I like to see a nice new coat of paint on something - like this bench we had outside on our patio. The problem is - in order to have a nice coat of paint I had to strip off the old - but I was lazy. So when I painted the new coat on, the old paint underneath began to chip and peel and push the nice new paint off.
That’s kind of how it is with us - when we come to Christ sometimes we just paint a fresh coat over our old selves and call it good. We go to church, sing the songs, say "God bless you" and think we are righteous. But when someone rubs us the wrong way, or says something we don’t like - suddenly that new coat of paint comes chipping off and the old person underneath rises to the surface and attacks back.
But Paul tells us in this second half of chapter 4 that we need to let Christ sand us way down to the bear wood, in order to cover us with His way of thinking and acting.
We’re going to break this up into three sections: 1. Why the way of the world doesn’t work, 2. what happens to those who think like the world, and 3. why coming to Christ makes us new through and through. Then we’ll finish up the chapter looking at the new character the Lord is putting on us.
Why the way of the world doesn’t work
17a So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord,
The Greek word rendered: "insist" means "called as a witness" So Paul might be saying: "I want to go on record as a representative of the Lord" This isn’t just an idle suggestion - an optional route.
Many people think that once they become Christians then pretty much anything goes. You’ve got your "fire insurance" that’ll get you to heaven so you can pretty much sin all you want. That’s pretty foolish - and a person like that might want to think about whether they really know the Lord at all.
Someone who knows Jesus will want to become like Him.
Paul shows us how worldly thinking affects us:
17b 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.
Many Christians are indistinguishable from those in the world around them. How about you? What would someone who didn’t know you, but watched your life and listened to you speak say about you? Would they suspect that you are a Christian?
Paul says to give up the "futility of their thinking." It really means "empty headed" Man makes up all kinds of stuff about himself and about God - and because he puts complicated labels on it and writes lots of books and have advanced courses about it - that it must be something special. Don’t get me wrong - there’s nothing wrong with learning - in fact, I hope that’s why you are here today. But learning without faith is foolishness and empty headed because it relies on man’s wisdom to outthink God.
Isaiah 47:10 Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ’I am, and there is none besides me.’
But Jesus said "I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life." Without God there is no real truth.
Watch what we have: hardened hearts, leading to ignorance.
"darkened in their understanding" is an interesting phrase. "Darkened" means "to obscure," and "understanding" is a compound word from "thinking" (as we saw in 17b) and a word that means "to apply".
So when you take a heart that is hardened against the Lord - 2 Corinthians 3 says there is a veil over a person’s understanding until they come to Christ - this leads to ignorance (the opposite of thinking as in 17b). So a person who lets man’s wisdom rule will be obscured from the proper application of thinking - he won’t think right, even when he thinks he is thinking right. Light driving 65 in a heavy fog by trusting you know the way.
A hard heart (the word means callous) comes when a person repeatedly rejects the loving invitation of God to accept His Son Jesus. As we’ll see in a second- this kind of person loses "sensitivity".
I’m reminded of Pharaoh - 7 times Pharaoh hardened his heart, 7 times God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. You eventually get what you want. The more you fight God the harder it will be to break through.
And the ultimate end is that you are "separated" from the life of God. It’s the word "alien" or "non-participant." We all need the life of God - John 1 says "In Him was life, and that life was the light of men." Our source of physical life is God - and our source of eternal life is God.
Bottom line: if you think that the philosophies, religions, gurus, and systems of the world will give you enlightenment, clearness of thought, understanding - and most importantly - life - you are badly mistaken.
We think man is essentially good. He is not.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
Here’s what really happens:
What happens to those who think like the world
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.
The word "sensitivity" really means to become apathetic. That’s in a nutshell what existential philosophy brings you to - there is no God and nothing but we see here so why bother?
But you see each of us has a God shaped hole in our hearts and souls - Psalm 42 says "my soul thirsts for God, for the living God." We humans need - and if we refuse to let God fill our need, then we will be driven to fill it with something else.
"given themselves over" is the same phrase used as Christ giving Himself for the world and denotes a complete surrender. Once you reject God it becomes pretty easy to ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit. In 1st Timothy 4 Paul describes the ability for the conscience to be "seared as with a hot iron." They don’t feel the pang of guilt at doing wrong.
So they indulge sensuality and impurity - at the root these two words mean "to be incontinent" and "to be unclean." What a perfect yet loathsome picture of how God sees sin. You fill in the blank - and we see it all around us today.
But it’s not enough - there "a continual lust for more." That’s what has led to the most unimaginable lewdness - it’s because there is no real thirst quencher except the Lord.
So now we move away from the downward spiral of depravity - to the upward calling of Jesus:
Why coming to Christ makes us new through and through
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.
We don’t come to Christ through intellect or man’s thinking
1. We hear of him
Romans 10:17 Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
2. We are taught about Him
Colossians 2:6-7 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
What were we taught? A two step process: Put off, put on (like wax on wax off)
That "old things have passed away, behold all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17) "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2)
Colossians 3:5 "Put to death, therefore, anything that belongs to your earthly nature."
So instead of relying on man’s empty thinking, 3. we rely on the truth of Christ’s thinking to change our lives into His image.
It’s closing one door and opening another. Now your "old man" will still try to pry open the door of the flesh - you’ve got to hold that one closed while opening the other - the door to the life in the Spirit. You do both in the power of the Spirit - by actively relating to your Father in Heaven, while actively resisting the flesh and declaring them to be "dead" (Romans 8). Your old nature is "being corrupted" which means to whither or spoil. Like food in a refrigerator that no longer cools properly - a life left in an environment that promotes flesh instead of Spirit will grow mold and slowly spoil.
That’s more general - now Paul gets very specific about how that new life works out in our lives:
The character of the new person
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
This is all about how we get along (or don’t get along) together. I want to make 8 points about relationships and the character of a Christian all involving this idea:
Build instead of Break
1. Put off falsehood - speak truth (vs 25) (Don’t lie)
2. Don’t let anger control you (26) (Don’t lose your temper)
3. Watch for footholds (27) (the results of not doing 1 & 2)
4. Live a Legal lifestyle (28) (Don’t make yourself overly dependent on others - goal is to give, not get rich)
5. Speak helping words (no potty mouth) (29)
6. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit (30) (when we hurt others, it makes God sad)
7. Don’t let the flesh poison relationships (31)
"get rid of" = "carry off, take away, remove"
Bitterness: As Robinson says, it denotes "an embittered and resentful spirit which refuses reconciliation."
Rage & Anger: Strong resentment because of something someone else has done
Brawling: disputes and quarrels
Slander: abusive speech against someone by telling lies about them to others
Malice: Wishing to or causing injury to someone else
8. Let kindness and forgiveness be the first reaction, not the last (32)
Kind: do good things for others
Compassion: Feel good things towards another
Forgive: Let go of the hurt and injury of others towards you as God let it go through Jesus of the hurt and injury you caused Him.
In order to understand we need to make some presuppositions:
1. We will have problems with other people
2. We carry with us into Christianity our character, influences, and culture
3. The process of becoming more like Christ includes chipping away at what is not like Jesus
4. We have the ability to make choices in the Spirit to do good or evil
5. We can choose good
If you think like the world you will act like the world - destroying relationships and people
If you think like Christ you will act like Christ - building relationships and people
Are you ready for the sandpaper?
For more Bible studies and an audio copy of this message, please visit:
www.CalvaryChapelNewberg.org.
