Let us pray...
Our passage today is from Ephesians 4:20-24. It says:
20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Some of the most heartbreaking statistics have been released by George Barna’s research group over the past couple of years. Barna does a plethora of research concerning the lifestyle and beliefs of Christians and non-Christians alike. Perhaps the hardest statistic of them all to stomach is the comparison of the divorce rate between born-again Christians and non-Christians. Unfortunately, they are the same. Exactly the same. In the area that is perhaps one of our greatest opportunities of witness, we look no different. However, the divorce rate is not the only area where we have failed as Christians. Category after category, we consistently look no different.
Why? Why is this so? If letting Jesus Christ be the Savior and Lord of our life is supposed to radically change who we are, why is it that so few of us look any different? I suspect that Paul himself once asked this question, and it is quite likely that he asked it of the Ephesians themselves. Sure, there were definitely those Christians from Ephesus that were making an impact for Christ and changing the world by their love, but there were others who had not changed a bit. To get a better understanding, let’s get some context on our passage for today. In verse 17 of chapter four, Paul writes, “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.” So, it becomes quickly obvious that many of these Ephesian Christians were not doing the best job at showing their changed life off to the world. In fact, to the untrained eye, they still looked quite pagan. You would have no idea that they had made a faith commitment to Jesus Christ.
So why is this happening? Why are the Ephesian believers, and many Christians of today, not becoming and looking any different? The underlying motives for not changing are often quite different. For some, they just never got it in the first place, and this teaching is more than a reminder, it’s a clarification. For others, it’s not that they heard the Gospel wrong, and simply thought that their life need not change. No, it’s not a problem of “should I do it”; it’s more a problem of “how can I do it?” Many of us know intellectually the things of Christ, but so few of us actually can do them well and pull them off.
Paul begins his exhortation on why and how the Ephesians can actually become and look different in verse 20. However, we can see from this verse, that this is not a new teaching. It’s a reminder. Look at verse 20. It’s in reference to the past. “You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.” This is not a new teaching. It’s not as if Paul himself asked the Ephesians to receive Christ as their Savior, but encouraged them to continue on sinning.
In order to reexamine “the way in which we did come to know Christ,” as Paul writes, we must remember the truth of it all, and this is the first step in becoming and looking different for Christ. For Paul says in verse 21, “Surely you heard of him (better translation would be “heard him”) and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.” You will need to look no further than the memories of your heart; no matter how faint they now seem, in order to examine this truth. For when you first heard Christ in your life and were first confronted with the truth, confronted with the love of the cross, it was obvious to you that to receive his forgiveness was to offer your life in its entirety. Anyone who has seriously encountered the offer of Christ through the cross has recognized that it is no mere trivial issue. However, it is but human nature that we forget. The Israelites always forgot, many of the Ephesians had forgotten, and even today, we still forget what our response is really to be. In reality, we most likely try to forget. We suppress it. We don’t want to deal with it. It’s always easier to follow the way of the flesh than the way of the cross. Nevertheless, Paul calls us to remember that truth and to bring it back into our life.
Our response to the truth that is in Jesus begins in verse 22. Paul writes, “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.” This is the second step to becoming and looking different for Jesus Christ. We are told to put off this old self, to throw it away. But what is the old self? It is everything we used to be before Christ. It is our carnal nature, our sinful nature that is self-focused and self-worshipping. It was somewhat described by the lifestyle of the Gentiles that Paul mentioned earlier in verses 17-19, but Paul also describes the old self in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1-3. He writes,
“1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”
It is the gratification of our sinful nature that we must leave behind, but many miss how it’s done. So many Christians, as I suspect in Paul’s day as well, forget that Christianity is a two-way relationship. They expect that as soon as they accept Christ, He will magically begin cleaning up their life. Now, Christ certainly has the power to do so, but we must help. We must be the ones who throw off the old self. Notice the active voice here. We must “put off” the old self.
So how do we throw it off? The old self is kind of like an old inappropriate shirt you used to own. I think all of us that became Christians at a later stage in life find that there are things we own that are reminders of who we used to be, but are now rather embarrassing to own now that we are Christians. So, pretend with me for a second that you own an old inappropriate shirt. It says something inappropriate or advocates doing drugs or something of that nature. If you were serious about living your life as an example of Christ, you would not keep that T-Shirt on everyday and merely place a white “I love Jesus shirt” over it. No, you would probably take the T-shirt and throw it in the dumpster. I always find it funny that so many Christians who want to get rid of stuff from their old life often sell it to other people. As if polluting someone else is okay, as long as it isn’t you. So before we even try to grow in the area of righteousness, we must first put off, throw off, get rid of the old self. We must be willing to look at those areas of our lives that are not God honoring and simply lead us to blend in with the rest of the world and say to ourselves, “This has got to stop. By living this way I am certainly not being an ambassador for Christ.” We cannot merely hide our old stuff behind a T-shirt that says, “I love Jesus.” However, that is what so many of us do. We live below average Christian lives, but when we walk into Church on Sunday morning, boy can we put a smile on our face!” While people may miss it, God sees through our “cover-up” T-shirt.
The third step in looking and becoming different in who we were made to be as Christians does not require us to do anything. It requires us to purposefully do nothing. In this step, we must surrender. It is important to realize that we will not be very effective in changing ourselves. In fact, we have already proved that to ourselves over and over. True and noticeable change comes not from us, but from the Holy Spirit of God. We cannot simply will ourselves into being better Christians. This is why Paul writes that we were taught, as verse 23 of our passage says, 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds. Notice here that the sentence is passive. God is doing the work of change. As has been said in many of the great sermons we have heard on Romans 12 this quarter, we must submit to our Lord and let him give us a new operating system. If we submit our minds to Him and dwell on the things above, He begins to make new the attitude of our minds, and we begin to operate differently. Let me say that again: He begins to make new the attitude of our minds, and we begin to operate differently. We must, as Paul says in Philippians 4:8, focus on: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
If we let God change our attitude, we will be able to make significant changes, for it is our attitude and our will that so often is the driving wind behind our actions. Imagine with me for a second that you work in an office, and you have a boss who is an angry, angry man. And not only that, he is an extreme micromanager. Every day at 8:15, he stops by your desk and gives you a to-do list for the day that Bill Gates could not have even pulled off in his prime. Then, inevitably, every day he stops back at your desk at 4:33 before he leaves for home and asks you if you have accomplished his to-do list for the day. Of course, you respond by saying “no,” and immediately he looks at you, rolls his eyes, and gives you that arrogant look that only bosses can give. So needless to say, your day always goes downhill after 4:33 in the afternoon. On your drive home, road rage is an everyday experience for you, and by the time you get home, you are feeling worse. Your spouse asks you what you would like for dinner, and you reply, “NOTHING!” When your dog looks at you funny because you just shouted, you respond with a swift kick. You are not a happy camper.
However, imagine for a second that you hear this incredible sermon by a guy named David Sorn on a passage in the Bible: Ephesians 4:20-24. You realize that you must first come to terms with reality and recognize that your behavior obviously is not God honoring, then you throw off those things from your life, and then the next thing you must do is to let God start changing the attitude of your mind. With that in mind, you start surrendering your mind to Him more and more. You are praying more, listening to Christian music, reading His word all the time, thinking about the life His Son once lived, and so on. As this pattern progresses, you notice that you start to act differently. And then one day, your boss stops by your desk at 4:33 and asks you if you have finished “the list.” Of course, it is once again “no,” and he once again gives you his look of utter disappointment, but this time things are different. As you are driving home, you noticed that you haven’t screamed at anyone on the road yet, and more than that, as you were thinking about what your boss said to you, you did not think about what a failure you were, but you thought, “I’m an incredible child of God.” And as you were thinking about your boss, you weren’t thinking thoughts of hate, but you thought, “You know, even though he has a lot of sin in His life, I bet Jesus still really has a heart for this guy.” When you walked into your house, your spouse asked you what you want for dinner, and you replied, “Anything is just fine, honey. You are the best cook in the entire world.” Now, this is somewhat of a stretch, but the point is that change does indeed come. Yet, it only comes when we allow God to get into our mind and start reprogramming. We cannot do it on our own. He must do it.
Our fourth and final step in becoming and looking different, and becoming who we were made to be in Christ involves putting on the “new self.” Verse 24 says, “and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Christ has already made us new in a positional sense. We have new life and have been saved. However, to put on the new self is to put it on “experientially” every day. We must now be willing to put on new clothes. Previously, we have already gotten rid of that old shirt that was offensive, and internally we are letting our minds be renewed by God, but now we must put on more than just a shirt that covers up an already offensive one. We must completely clothe and immerse ourselves in Christ. If Jesus truly is the Son of God that has saved you from yourself, than our hearts must truly be screaming to let him infiltrate every part of us. See, I not only want him to be my Savior, but my master, and if one is to be your master, you must surrender every part. You must now not only put on an “I love Jesus shirt,” but “God loves me pants,” “Jesus died for me socks,” “an I surrender hat,” “Jesus is truth shoes,” and “Jesus loves you gloves.” We must be fully clothed in Christ. He must control, or at least we must want Him to control, every part of us. Paul writes in Romans 13:14-15:
“13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”
To put on the new self, is to put on a new uniform and keep on the new uniform. It is to join the army of the Lord with Jesus Christ as your master. It is to take the truth of Jesus with you everywhere you walk in your shoes. It is to spread His love to every one your hands touch. It is to incorporate Him into every part of your body and every part of your life. It is to pray with Him in the morning, honor Him with our actions at work, to worship Him in the car on the ride home, to show His love to our family in the evening, and much more. We must be willing to clothe ourselves with Christ, to take Him with us everywhere, because life is an intense battle that we as Christians, quite frankly, have not been winning. We cannot expect true righteousness and holiness, as Paul writes in verse 24, to be apparent fruit in our lives when we leave Jesus out of most of our daily life. Nor can we expect to look radically different as Christians if He only shows up in our lives on Sundays. The only way we can possibly become and look different is if we throw off our old lifestyle, allow God to begin to renew our attitudes, and continually clothe ourselves with Jesus Christ every single day.
So let us move forward and become changed in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus Christ. May we become so different that our lights do not blur together in the crowd of other lights, but ours shine brightly above all the rest, like a city on a hill. If each and every one of you searches your hearts, you will find that righteousness and holiness is what you truly desire. It is your purpose, your calling. And not only is it your calling, it is your duty. God Almighty has called you to look different. He has called you to live a life of obedience, righteousness, and holiness. I don’t know about you, but if the God of the Universe who has ransomed my life is calling me to this, if there is anything old on me, I want to rip it off, stomp on it, and burn it for good. If there are any lies in my brain, I want them to be made new. I want to crave newness because I crave my God. If there is any part of my life where I am clothing myself with me as my master, I want to replace it with Jesus Christ and let Him be the master of that area of my life. And it is in this process of throwing off the old and putting on the new that we may finally start to see the righteousness and holiness that all of us seek. It’s not a magic process, but a process that takes time, and takes two. You, and most importantly, God. We must throw off the old, and replace it with new. If our hearts are willing to walk down the right and proper path, we can indeed become and look different for Jesus Christ. Amen.
