Put On, Put Off

New Beginnings   •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Has anyone here ever had their identity stolen?
If you have it is terrible, I was actually talking with a friend that had their identity stolen the other day,
And the person stole their debit card information, and not just that but after they canceled the credit card the women bought a wig to look like his wife and somehow was able to take money out of his account.
And all together she was able to steel a total of 20,000 dollars from them.
But you know its amazing how a stolen identity can cause so much damage.
And you know we are in this sermon series called New Beginnings and really we are looking at the book of Ephesians that was written by this guy named Paul,
and throughout this book Paul kind of paints this picture that our identity is a child of God, and it is an amazing identity
But to often our identity has been stolen or caught up in all these other things,
and what happens is these things cause damage in our lives.
And so throughout this letter Paul is trying to tell this church this is not your identity, but you have this identity in Christ that completely changes your life.
And so today we are going to keep unpacking the ways that our lives our changed because of this new identity that we are stepping into.
And so we are going to be in Ephesians 4:17-32 and we are going to start with the very first verse. It says this:
Ephesians 4:17 NIV
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.
So Paul starts with saying that we must no longer live as gentiles do,
And gentiles were those who were not a relationship with God,
and so in a way Paul starts by saying you need to live in a way where your life before Christ looks different than your life with Christ.
And the first way he says should be different is our futility in thinking.
Basically the way we think should be different
Because what this phrase futility of thinking implies is that before Christ the way we viewed life was not centered on Christ but other things
And here is the thing because a lot of the time the goals we set on our own they are not usually awful,
I mean if you have a goal to get a promotion at work thats a good goal
If you have a goal to be a great parent… Great goal!
But what happens is we end up with a lot of things we are aspiring for (and some are good others might not be)
But so often we set our life on different things and sometimes goals conflict.
I mean picture with me if I made a game in the sanctuary, and I brought a basketball hoop in, a goal post, a soccer net and a volly ball net in,
And then I dumped a ton of different balls and said “All right GO!”
First off it would be really messy, but secondly you might have an idea on how to play and what you would want to do.
But your not going to know for sure right?
And because of that you could be doing something you think is great, but its not a good thing right?
And Here is what I want you to get because this passage is saying we make our own goals, but when we enter into a relationship with Christ those goals don’t necessarily go away, but they become very secondary compared to the main calling in our life which is to follow and align our lives with Christ.
And our lives being aligned with Christ begins to inform us on how the rest our life can be lived.
And jump down to verses 22-24 because I love this illustration Paul uses. He says this:
Ephesians 4:22–24 (NIV)
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.
So I love this picture that Paul is painting for us because in a way saying when you accepted Christ your life was so drastically changed that your appearance changed.
In fact he actually uses the language of almost like we changed the cothes that we were wearing.
(USE JACKET) It is almost like He is saying if you were wearing an outfit and you thought it was a good looking outfit and so you wore it every day of your life.
And at first it would not be terrible, but after awhile it would probably start to look bad and not just that but it would smell bad, (a can of axe can only cover so much).
But here is the thing because what Paul is saying is when you accepted Christ you got rid of that awful outfit you wore and guess what you got a new outfit that is way better.
But here is the issue that we have in our lives and in our churches, because we have this life change, but too often we want to hang on to the outfit.
If you ever talk to Arika, she will always try to go through my clothes with me and figure out what we can donate or throw away
And so I will sit with her and she will show me these clothes that have rips, Some are 15 years old, they have stains and are to small for me
And I will look at her and say are you crazy I can’t get rid of that! its 15 years old!
And so if you ever look at my dresser, it is overflowing
But here is the thing, because with all seriousness I really want to be a little blunt here.
Because a lot of times as christians we have a closet that needs cleaned out.
Because we will carry around these things that are holding us back from where God wants us and He wants us to let those things go.
And he wants us to look completely different where are lives are cluttered and move to a place where we have space for Christ.
And so what Paul does with almost the rest of the passage is tells us the things we should be getting rid of and putting on:
And look at verses 26-27 because Paul tells us this:
Ephesians 4:26–27 NIV
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.
Basically he starts off saying do not remain angry, and notice its not saying “Never get angry”
Because anger is not always a terrible thing, but he says when we remain angry is can cause issues.
In fact it says do not even let satan have that foothold in your life.
because when we are angry for a long period it opens the door for you to make mistakes.
And can I just say that regardless if its anger or something else, we really want to make sure that we are not allowing Satan to have a foothold in our life
Because so often we go this does not seem harmful, but it can be really destructive.
Its almost like a few years ago I saw an article and it talked about a museem exibit and there was a chair with a shot gun
And the shotgun was pointed at the chair and it had one bullet in it
And only the shot gun had a timer where at one point the gun would go off, but know one knew when.
It could be in 5 minutes it could be a year from now it could be 100 years from now.
But as part of the exhibit you could sit in the chair for 1 minute, and people lined up for their minute in the chair.
And this is a little silly, but can I just say in our lives when we give satan these footholds in our life we might say this is not a big deal, its just this
But so often the results can be so much more destructive than we can imagine.
And it only takes one time for us to feel the result.
And whether it is anger, lust, pride, greed or whatever, I just have to tell us please do not take your moment in the chair.
Do not give Satan a foothold in your life. it is not worth it.
And look at the next verse because Paul says this in verse 28:
Ephesians 4:28 (NIV)
28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
I want you to notice because Paul does not just say stop steeling, but He tells us to share with those in need.
And Paul is pointing out something more than just how we physically act (although those things are good), but He is really pointing out that our hearts should be moving away from being selfish and move to being generous where we are blessing others with how God has blessed us.
Lets keep going: Verses 29-30:
Ephesians 4:29–30 NIV
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.
So Paul says the way we talk is important!
And the reason is because “words have power”
Say that with me “words have power”
And Paul is saying we have the ability to build people up or tear them down.
I mean this is so true because our kids hear our words (more than we know), our friends hear the words we say, our coworkers.
And if I had to guess there are some of us where the words we speak to them are not always life-giving, but they might tear them down in ways we do not even know.
And studies have shown that this can have an effect on people for years and specifically with our kids it can harm them but also have it where they speak toxic things to others
We need to speak life.
And let me just read the last part of this passage because it says this in verses 31-32:
Ephesians 4:31–32 NIV
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.
You know Paul sumerizes this passage by saying to take off these toxic things and then forgive as Christ has forgiven you.
And I just want to close on this because really that sentence “Forgive each-other as Christ forgave you”
is signifying ultimately in our life we need to reflect Christ.
And really we can you that sentence with almost any area in our life
Are we forgiving like Christ forgave
Are we loving as Christ loves
Do we help others as Christ did
Do we get angry how Christ got angry
And really are we reflecting Christ.
And as we close maybe you are looking at the way you live and its not reflecting Christ.
Maybe its in your anger, maybe you feel like you have very selfish tendancies
Maybe its a lust or pride issue
And really maybe today you feel like you are sitting in that chair we were talking about.
Can I just speak to you as a friend this morning that cares for you, as a pastor I have seen people who have sat in this seat and they thought whats the big deal
But because of it people were hurt, families w separated, people life got messy.
Please take off that toxic thing (hold jacket) and throw it to the ground. Its not worth it.
And begin to fill the void you have in your life with Jesus.
And I want to pray for us but this morning as we close maybe you just want to surrender that thing in your life.
Because I have said this before you can’t do it , but heres the good news through Christ you can.
What would it look like to surrender that area to Christ this morning.
Lets pray.
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