Walking in Godliness (Ephesians 4:17-24)

If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Ephesians 4:17-24. Over the past two weeks we have been slowing walking our way through this fourth chapter of this amazing epistle. We’ve noted several times, that chapter four is the turning point in Paul’s letter. In the first three chapters of Ephesians, the apostle wrote a doctoral masterpiece, where he explained the doctrines of grace, and spoke on the theology of election, predestination, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, perseverance, depravity, and ecclesiology. But, starting in chapter four, Paul takes all that wonderful doctrine and applies to the Christian’s everyday life. These last three chapters are full of exhortations and imperatives, as the apostle calls on every believer to walk in a manner worthy of our calling and salvation. That’s how he begins this last major section in Eph. 4:1. He exhorts us to walk or to live in a way that directly reflects the theology that we believe.

The apostle’s assumption is clear: our lives should mirror what we say we believe. One of my favorite seminary professors was my ethics professor, Dr. Mark Leiderbauch. And he introduced me to a little equation, that I know I have shared before, but it is worth sharing again. He argued this…

Stated Belief

+ Actual Practice

Actual Belief

You see, we can say we believe something all day long, until we are blue in the face, but until our lives echo what we proclaim to believe, we are simply guilty of hypocrisy. Church, our beliefs, our theology, our doctrine, should constantly be shaping our lives. As we have seen in the opening chapters of Ephesians, the very moment when we are born again, the second we first believed, a major transformation occurs. We literally go from death to life. Our lifeless hearts of stone are exchanged for a new living heart, a heart that can be molded and further transformed into the likeness of God as we live our lives for Him.

Therefore, as we walk in faith, as we walk as the family of God united in Christ, we will become increasingly fruitful, experience more of the unlimited blessings of God, and be used powerfully to advance His kingdom. As we read the text this morning, may I encourage each of you to keep this equation in your mind, so that we measure our lives accurately, and respond in faith to the Word of God… Read along with me… Ephesians 4:17-24….

This morning, I want you to see from this text three ways we walk are to walk in godliness and live in a manner worthy of our calling.

1) Christians must live their lives differently than unbelievers (vs. 17-19).

In verse 17, the apostle Paul begins this passage by transitioning from the topic of walking in unity, to walking in holiness. Here, he argues that the Christian life should not project the radical individualism and self-centered mentality that plagues our broken world. Notice, how Paul in our opening verse emphasizes this, he writes, “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk…”.

The word “affirm” in the Greek is fascinating to consider. It’s the word mar-two-romai… Perhaps, you can hear the word “martyr” in it’s pronunciation. The word means “to witness, to testify, and to insist.” This is a very strong word that Paul uses here. Listen, this is no suggestion, this is a vital command given by both the apostle Paul and the Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, this entire paragraph which serves a vivid and accurate description of the world’s way of life is not just Paul’s thoughts and conclusions. No, it is also exactly how the risen Lord views it Himself.

Oh, how important it is that Christians embrace this assessment of a world void of the hope of Christ. For until we do, we will never comprehend why man is unable to save himself and why our Lord Jesus abandoned glory to come to earth to die for our sins. This rather shocking biblical vision is essential to or walk and faith, because without it, we will be tempted to see the world as much better off than it is. And listen, when that happens the necessity of Jesus’ death on the cross is lessened and the potential of those who are not saved by grace is greatly elevated.

Look how the Bible describes the ways of the world in verses 17-19… “you must no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened by their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”

The word “Gentiles” in the Greek is “ethnos.” From which we get the word ethnicity. The Jews used this word to distinguish all other people from the Jews and their faith. In time, it quickly became a word that described the ungodly, unregenerate, and un-saved pagan people of the world. So, when Paul says, don’t walk as the Gentiles walk, he’s literally saying, don’t walk or live your life as those who do not know Christ, as those who have no hope of salvation, and as those whom according to Eph. 2:1 are spiritually dead in their trespasses and sin.

The apostle is warning his readers about the dangers of worldliness. The late 19th century British pastor, John Jowett, once wrote, “Worldliness is a spirit, a temperament, an attitude of the soul. It is a life without high callings, life devoid of lofty ideals. It is a gaze always horizontal and never vertical.” This is the way of life that come most natural to man, this is the way we all have once walked, but Christians in and by faith are to walk differently.

Lets look closely at this depressing description of the worldly way of life. In verses 17-19 we discover a downward spiral that is very similar to a much longer parallel passage that is found in Romans chapter 1. This spiral here in Ephesians 4 is kind of hard to follow because of Pauls’ wording… for we see several phrases here that say this happens, because of this, and that happens because of that, and having done this, this becomes that… It can be kind of confusing for sure. But let me borrow the outline from John Stott’s commentary, that I found very helpful. He points out the progression that starts with:

a) a Hardness of heart… Look back to verse 18… “being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.” The Greek word for “hardness” used here spoke of any stone that was harder than marble. Today, we would probably describe such a person by saying they have a “heart of stone.” In other words, such individuals display an inability and unwillingness to respond to God’s Word, for they lack sympathetic understanding to truth. The parallel verse in Romans 1:18 speaks of “men, who by their own unrighteousness suppress the truth.” Such people aggressively refuse to believe and heed the realities of the gospel, and the truth that is revealed in Scripture regarding God and man. And notice how this hardness of heart naturally leads to darkness.

b) A Darkness of heart, we see this in the very first part of verse 18 where Paul writes that the world is “being darkened in their understanding.” Listen, the more the world suppress the truth of God’s Word, the less capable they will become to discern spiritual reality. In Romans 1, the parallel reads, (vs. 21-22)… “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.”

Notice, the word “futile” here, is the same word Paul uses in verse 17, where Paul said the Gentiles walk, “in the futility of their mind.” The word refers to that which fails to produce the desired result, or that which never succeeds. Such a person consumes himself in the pursuit of goals that are purely selfish, they strongly desire that which is only temporary in nature, and they constantly look for lasting joy and satisfaction in that which is fundamentally deceptive and disappointing. The unregenerate person plans and revolves everything on the basis of his own thinking. He is his own ultimate source of authority and blindly follows his own thinking and heart to its ultimate outcome of futility, emptiness, and vanity.

Solomon is a prime example here. After a life of experiencing every worldly pleasure available, the wisest and perhaps wealthiest man of the ancient world concluded that such a lifestyle is “vanity and merely striving after the wind.” Yet, even today, men and women around the world keep seeking the same goals in the same futile ways of life.

c) Well, from hardness of heart and darkness of heart comes deadness, as Paul says in verse 18, that those of the world are “excluded from the life of God.” Such a separation makes everything possible. Every sin that is hardly imaginable, the worst of the worst sins, all become realty because of this separation. This lifeless state of living makes it very possible to call “evil good and good evil.” You want to know why we today see criminals excused of their crimes, and why we see people who stand up against injustice crucified by the media… do you want to know why drag queens are celebrated and Christians are hated… its simply because the world is dead in their sin. Well, lastly notice what this death produces…

d) Recklessness. It produces a reckless heart, notice verse 19… “and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.” What a powerful description… the opening phrase, “having become callous” literally means they are beyond feeling, like calloused skin. Therefore, when they sin, they have no feeling of guilt or shame. And because of this, they just give themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity. Since they are never satisfied, they simply go further and further into their sinful and sexual behavior trying to discover pleasure. They literally become out of control as their greedy and idolatrous hearts run wild.

Now surely many have questioned this description. Many have argued that this must be an exaggeration. And certainly, we can admit that not all who live apart from Christ and apart from grace, spiral to the depths mentioned here in this text. Yet, nonetheless, this passage is an accurate portrait of the unregenerate, for every life without Christ is completely dominated by sinful thoughts, words, and actions. And again, if you want to validate this description on our world, just simply watch the news. Where we can clearly see that the heart of man is hard, dark, dead, and reckless.

And by the way, the scary thing to note, here is that Paul is speaking to believers warning them not to walk this way. You see, it is a real possibility for those of us who have been saved by grace, to easily walk in the ways of the world, instead of walking with Christ. And when we do, we can easily find our hearts hardening , our eyes will grow blind to our sinful behavior, we will become calloused to guilt and shame, and reckless in our actions. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must not live as unbelievers.

2) Christians are to think profoundly different than the world (vs. 20-21).

The apostle has already argued in verse 18, that ignorance and sin are inseparable. Apart from saving grace, mankind is completely unable to know and comprehend the things of God. In verses 17-19, Paul repeatedly spoke of this limitation. He spoke of the futility of their mind, their darkened understanding, and the ignorance that is within them. Repeatedly, Paul is reminding his readers that the way they live our lives is directly connected to the way they think. Church, a key reason unbelievers live differently than believers is because they think differently.

Notice, how Paul challenges his audience to think by reminding them of what they know and what they have learned. He writes in verse 20 and 21, “But you did not learn Christ this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as the truth is in Jesus.” Paul, here is saying, remember your Christ-centered education. And the very first thing to note about this education is that Christ Himself is the subject of the teaching.

The apostle essentially says, but “you have learned Christ.” This is unique and noteworthy language. He is not saying, you have learned a lot about Christ, nor is he saying that you know or are familiar with the story of Jesus. No, the apostle is intentionally using relational language. Therefore, when you become a Christian, you do not merely learn about Jesus’ life or His teachings, instead you develop a personal relationship with Him. To know Christ is to be saved by His grace.

In John 17:3, Jesus said… “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Knowing God, knowing Christ, thinking about Him, talking to Him, listening to Him speak through the Scriptures, and thoughtfully applying it to our lives is salvation by grace.

But Paul doesn’t stop there… Jesus is certainly the main subject of our Christ-centered education, but He’s also the teacher. Notice verse 21… “if indeed you have heard Him.” That’s how it literally reads… the apostle does not say indeed you have heard about Him. That’s how many Bible translations read, but the NASB has it right. For Jesus speaks directly through His Word, and He speaks directly through the preaching and teaching of His Word. Paul is stressing that the Jesus we worship is not merely an historical figure or a religious concept. Instead, He is real, living, and working through the Holy Spirit to speak directly to our hearts.

Yet, not only have we heard Jesus speak, notice how the apostle also adds, “you have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus.” In stark contrast to the darkened understanding of the lost, believes have received the truth with the very authority of Christ. Literally, they have been taught “in him.” This small phrase should certainly remind us of the first two chapters of Ephesians, where Paul expounded on all the spiritual blessings that believers share because they are “in Christ,” perfectly united with Him, who, notice what Paul says here, embodies the truth.

You see, to know truth, is to know Jesus. In 1 John 5:20, we read a nice summary of a believer’s relationship with truth. John wrote… “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” During his life, Jesus boldly declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is the only way to God, Jesus is the only way to salvation, the only way to experience the fullness of life, and the only assurance and hope of heaven.

Interestingly, here at the end of verse 21, this is the only place in the entire book of Ephesians that Paul refers to the Lord by His personal name, Jesus. Paul constantly refers to the Messiah with words like, “Jesus Christ,” or “Christ Jesus,” or “the Lord Jesus.” But here, he seems to deliberately use the name Jesus alone. I personally think it’s because Paul is speaking of the historical Jesus. He not speaking of his sovereignty, his eminence, or his unlimited power, rather the apostle is speaking of Jesus’ humanity, his incarnation, his sinless life, his gruesome death, and his glorious resurrection.

You see, the apostle is reminding us to constantly keep our minds on Christ and His gospel. He’s calling upon us to keep our focus on the cross of Calvary. Where the only innocent and sinless man named Jesus was brutally beaten, whipped, shamefully stripped, mocked, cursed, spit up, pierced, and broken. His head that now bears many glorious crowns, was forced to disgracefully wear a crown of thorns. On Calvary, Jesus’ innocent hands and feet were painfully nailed to a cross where he bled and died for us. In love, Jesus bore everyone of our sins and experienced first-hand the wrath of God that our sin deserves.

Why? so that through faith and repentance we can be saved by His grace! In 2 Corinthians 5:15, Paul wrote these words, “They who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” What a powerful verse for us to consider… do you live for Christ? Have you put your faith in Him? Do you know the one who is the embedment of truth? Have you repented of your selfish and worldly ways and began to live a life of obedience? If you haven’t I would encourage you to call out to the Lord Jesus in prayer, ask Him for His forgiveness, ask Him for grace, ask Him for faith to live a life that is both pleasing and glorifying to Him.

Church family, as believers we are to keep our minds on Christ. We are to think differently from the world around us. This means we must guard our minds with great care. We must pay close attention to what we allow our eyes to see and our ears to hear. Oh, how we must discipline or minds to think about that which is true, honorable, right, pure, and that which is worthy of praise. We must do this because our lives will inevitably follow where our minds lead.

The great pastor J.C. Ryle once simply and profoundly wrote, “Thoughts are parents of words and deeds.” The world consumes itself with thoughts that are radically centered on self, which naturally leads to sinful living. But believers, as we focus our minds on Christ and on His cross, we will live for Him and thus model His righteousness to the world in which we live. We must think differently from the world if we are going to live for Christ.

3) Christians are to model godliness to the world around them (vs. 22-24).

Not only are Christians to live differently and think differently than the world around them, they also are to clothe themselves with God’s holiness and righteousness. Notice, how Paul gives step-by-step instruction on how this is done. First, followers of Christ are to strip off their old way of living. Look again to verse 22… “that, in reference to your former manner of life (that is the life vividly described in verses 17-19), you (Paul says) lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.” Now, obviously Paul has in mind here the repentance of faith. When a person is born again, they repent of their sin. They strip off the old self-centered way of living like dirty clothes and begin to pursue a holy life that pleases God.

However, both Scripture and our experience reveals that no one has ever successfully done that in one solitary action. That’s impossible for our flesh is overwhelmingly corrupted. Instead, those who live godly lives, those who pursue holiness and righteousness live a lifestyle of repentance. They continually work at laying aside the old ways of life.

You see here is the problem we face, the old garments and our old ways of life are exceptionally comfortable and rather natural. So, taking them off is rather difficult and at times even painful.

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit convicts us of those pesky sins like lust, pride, bitterness, jealousy, greed, and all their nasty relatives that so easily linger in our hearts, oh how we must deal with them quickly and often. As Christians have to daily strip off that which naturally clings to our hearts and disrupts our walk and intimacy with God. This is certainly part of what Jesus meant in Luke 9:23, when he said… “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” Daily we must take up our cross, daily we must follow Jesus, and daily we must strip off the sin that entangles us so that we can follow our Lord. That’s the first step.

The second step in clothing ourselves in godliness is found in verse 23, where the apostle calls upon believers to “be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” The word “renewal” in the Greek is in the present tense, implying that this is an ongoing process that God performs in us. Oh, how we need continual renewal of or minds. We need constant reminders of the gospel truths that have transformed our lives. We must be reminded often of our newfound identity of being in Christ, and our calling to glorify God as His image bearers.

Listen, we cannot effectively put on our new garments that reflect His holiness and righteousness unless our thinking is altered and renewed by God. Now, some of you are thinking, Pastor Kevin, is this not simply a repeat of your second point? No, it’s not… Paul’s taking it a step further here in verse 23 and speaking about the discipline of renewal. It echoes Paul’s writing in Romans 12:2… “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Listen, renewal is done not by just thinking about what you know, but by feeding what you already know. It is done by reading and studying God’s Word and by asking the Holy Spirit to renew your minds with God’s truth. Such renewal takes place in our home groups and Bible studies where we wash our minds to make them clean with Scripture. That’s the important second step we must take if we are going to clothe ourselves in godliness.

Lastly, notice verse 24 where we discover the last step, we must take… “and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” The word new in the Greek, does not mean renovated, or made better, or like new. Instead, it means completely new, new in character, and new in essence. Notice, it’s been created by God. Therefore, this isn’t our doing, or a result of our own work and effort to simply be a good person. No, it’s a creation gift from God.

The new self is created in the likeness of God. The Greek is helpful, as it literally reads “created according to what God is.” What a powerful statement. You see those of us who have experienced God’s salvation have been made like God. Peter says the same thing in 2 Peter 1:4… “He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” Wow, God gifts us His divine nature. You see our job isn’t to create a new self, but simply wear that which we already possess by being forgiven and redeemed.

Now, it is vitally important that we understand, that we do not put on the new man, by simply taking off the old man. You see ridding yourself of sin is not the same thing as putting on God’s love, peace, joy, gentleness, kindness, and patience. For example, have you ever lost it with someone? Have you ever just been so frustrated and angry, that you just verbally attack another person. Sadly, all of us can relate to that right, where we completely regret saying what we said. Now to make things rights, we should go and seek forgiveness and repent of those sins by vowing to not do such foolishness again. However, if we leave it that, we neglect our responsibility to put on kindness, love, gentleness, and patience toward that person. Paul is saying, don’t neglect this last vital step. Oh, its easy to do isn’t it. It’s easy to feel good about an apology, it feels good to be forgiven, but God wants more from us and desires that we reflect His love and grace to them.

And notice here at the end of our last verse that Paul specifically notes two characteristics of godliness. He mentions both true righteousness and holiness. The word “true” is placed here to contrast the “lusts of deceit” in verse 22 that plagues the old man. The new man, however, is built up in truth and his life is characterized by holiness and righteousness.

Holiness is a direct reflection of the first table of the Law, the first four of the ten commandments, which all command us to love, honor, and reflect God’s majesty. The word righteousness on the other hand, reflects the second tablet of the law that contains the last 6 of the 10 commandments given to Moses. Those specific commands call us to love and honor one another by reflecting God’s character.

Righteousness and holiness. Those two godly traits, church family, are what will most satisfy or hearts. Why? because before the world began, God created man to be an image bearer. He created us to be like Him, and by modeling godliness we fulfill that which we were created to do, thus we find or greatest fulfillment and satisfaction by putting on this new man created in the likeness of God. Listen, we naturally discover our greatest potentials and joys when we live as God made originally us to be- like Him.

Therefore, if you want to have a greater marriage? Follow this three-step plan. You want to work on your parenting? Follow this three-step plan. Do you want to experience God’s freedom over a habitual sin. Here’s a powerful three-point plan. Do you want to experience relief from anxiety and or depression… here’s a wonderful and helpful plan. First, take off the old self by stripping away the sin that lingers in your heart. Second, renew your mind by washing it daily with His Word, study it, meditate on it, and hide it in your heart. Lastly, put on godliness. Put on His holiness and righteousness as you seek to live for Him in obedience.

Church family, in grace God gives us this instruction, because change is very possible. I know some of you have endured much frustration and pain over the years, and maybe have even grown convinced that certain things are just the way they are going to be in this broken world. But the Bible over and over again gives us great hope.

Scripture reminds us often that God is sovereign, and He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing so that we can be transformed by His grace. 2 Peter 1:3 reads… “seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” Everything we need to live for Him, everything we need to strip off our sinful habits has been abundantly provided. If you are longing to make changes in your life, and feel kind of stuck, everything you need for Him to restore that which is broken has already been provided. I’d also suggest that you read this book that we have available at our resource table. Its called : You Can Change, by Tim Chester. It’s a powerful little book that can give you some practical advice on how change can occur. I’ve used this numerous times and counseling and it’s a powerful tool to help you model godliness in your home, school, workplace, and church.

Church family, as we conclude this service. May I once again draw your attention to the equation I shared at the beginning. Stated belief + Actual practice= Actual belief. As you look upon it, may I ask: Do you believe Christians are to live differently than the world? Do you believe Christians are to think differently than unbelievers? Do you believe Christians are to model godliness? If so, then your life should reflect these truths.

However, if you are looking at this equation this morning, and feeling convicted for you know your life is rather worldly, and you know you think much like your lost friends, and you know there is little godliness modeled in your life. Then may I call upon you to humbly bow before your Sovereign Savior, ask for forgiveness and grace to make the changes the Holy Spirit is leading you to make. Or maybe here, and you look at this equation and you look at your life and you see a lot of fruit, but you still see a lot of growth that needs to occur. If that is you, may I just encourage you to continue to daily strip off the old self, be daily renewed in your thinking, and put on Christlike character as you live for Him.

Will you pray with me?

KSW