The New Life

The New Life

Ephesians 4:17-24

There is an old saying some of you might be familiar with, “The clothes make a man.” I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I know my wife believes it, because when we got married the first thing she did, was change my wardrobe.

When Tammy first moved in with me, she started cleaning out the closets and I thought she was making room for her stuff, (Lord knows she had a lot of stuff) but what she was doing was getting rid of my stuff. But then something interesting happened she began buying me new stuff, stuff I would not ordinarily wear.

And at first, I thought it was because she didn’t like the man she married, but I have come to realize, she does this because she wants me to represent her well. There are certain responsibilities that come with being her husband and one of those responsibilities is the way I represent her in the world.

Well, the same thing is true about being a Christian. God loves us and accepts us for who we are but there are certain responsibilities that come with representing Him in the world. He wants the changes He is making on the inside of us to become evident on the outside. Sometimes that means getting rid of old habits and sometimes it means beginning new ones.

That is what we learn from this passage, as Christians we are to put away our old way of life and embrace the new life we have in Christ. (Ephesians 4:17-24)

So, this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,

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.

19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,

21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

22 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,

23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. (Pray)

In our passage this morning we have come to the subject of change, and we all feel the same way about change. We love the idea of it until it actual becomes time to do it. For example, all of us love the idea of losing ten pounds until the waitress brings the menu to the table and then suddenly change can wait. Well Paul teaches us in this passage that change is fundamental to the Christian life, and it can’t wait.

If you are someone who claims to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you are still living the way you did before you met Him, you might want to ask yourself if you truly believe. Because becoming a Christian requires change.

It’s what we call repentance, and it is not a one- time event, but it’s the lifestyle of a believer. God transforms us the moment we are saved, and He gives us new life, but that is followed by a lifetime of change. As God molds us and shapes us into the image of His Son.

That is what Paul is talking about in this passage. He paints a picture for us of who we were before Christ and who we are supposed to be now. And what we learn from this passage is, as Christians we are to put off our old way of life and embrace the new life we have in Christ.

The first thing I want you to see in this passage is the old life, Vs. 17-19. To simply put it like this, as believers we are not supposed to live like unbelievers.

Over the years, there has been many polls taken that show nearly half of all Americans claim to be born again Christians. But before we celebrate, it’s important to know those same polls show, there is very little difference between the life we live and the way the rest of the world lives.

In fact, the divorce rate in the church is slightly higher than the rest of the population, and the number of Christian leaders who struggle with pornography and sexual immorality is staggering. So, when I read what Paul says, it screams off the page at me.

Notice Vs. 17, “So, this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk.” I love the way Paul puts this. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he says, “I’m going to tell you something, and the Lord agrees with me” We affirm this together. And then don’t miss the fact that he is writing to Gentiles. And what does he say, don’t act like Gentiles.

The word “Gentile” is the Greek word “ethnos” which is where the word ethnic comes from, and it just means foreigners, people, or nations. It referd to anyone who wasn’t Jewish or a member of the family of God. So, it is clear what Paul is telling us here, a Christian is no longer supposed to live like the rest of the world. We are supposed to be different.

He ends Vs. 17 by telling us, unbelievers live “in the futility of their mind” and then he spends the next two verses explaining to us what he means. He says, unbelievers are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, ignorant of who He is because of the hardness of their heart, and now their only concern is personal pleasure.

Let me ask you this, does that describe you? Because there was a time in my life when that described me. But then my life was suddenly changed by Jesus Christ. I began to look at life differently. Things that were once so important to me didn’t matter anymore and I wanted to be a better person. Does that describe you? Has Christ made that kind of difference in your life?

The word futility is the same word Solomon used 36 times in the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon wrote, “Vanity, vanity, all of life is vanity.” That is the word futility in vs. 17.

It comes from a Hebrew word that means nothingness. You see Solomon looked for satisfaction in everything the world had to offer. He had wealth, wisdom, women, power, and prestige, but in the end, he found that without God, it was all nothing. It was all futility.

My Granddaughter Georgia Grace loves when you blow bubbles for her because she likes to chase them and grab the bubbles but, in the end, she is left empty handed because there is nothing to grab. That is Paul’s picture of the life of an unbeliever. Life without God is a life of chasing bubbles. It’s a life of never being satisfied, never getting a hold on what you really are looking for.

Now that doesn’t mean unbelievers never do things that are significant in the world. They teach their children, they serve their country, they help the poor, they can make great contributions to society. But without Christ what have they gained?

Jesus said, ‘What does it prophet a man to gain the world but to lose his soul?’ And the answer is nothing. Someone can always come along behind you and undo all the good that you have ever done, because it has no eternal value. But with Christ everything we do has eternal value.

So, Paul tells us we are not supposed to live like unbelievers who are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the hardness of their heart.

In other words, sin separates us from God. It makes it impossible for us to see things from God’s perspective. The deeper we plunge into sin the more difficult it becomes to come back.

Our heart becomes hard and we become incapable of believing. Eventually the things of God become foolishness to us. (1 Cor. 2:14), “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

Also, Paul teaches us, we have an enemy at work behind the scenes trying to prevent us from seeing the truth. (2 Cor. 4:4), “the god of this world (talking about Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

So, the deck is stacked against us. We have a sin nature that makes our heart hard and we have an enemy that makes us blind. But the Bible makes it clear God has provided us a champion to help us overcome it, His name is Jesus Christ.

Notice those two little words in Vs. 17, “No longer.” Paul says, we are to “no longer’ walk as the Gentiles walk. Well Jesus offers us the “no longer.”

He says, “if you abide in me and my Word abides in you, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” As powerful as the sin is, the power of the Son of God is greater. We no longer have to live in the futility of our mind, but we can be renewed, and we can be set free.

That is what Paul teaches us in this passage. He teaches us that the unbeliever is on an endless pursuit of satisfaction they can never find. But Jesus offers us complete satisfaction in life.

I think of the story of the Samaritan women at Jacob’s well. Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst.”

Have you found satisfaction in life from Jesus? Because as Christians we are to put off our old way of life and embrace the new life we have in Christ.

The next thing I want you to see in this passage is the changed life, Vs. 20-24. First, Paul told us how not to live, now he makes a sharp contrast and shows us what every believer should experience in Christ. And what do we learn? There is a transformation of our heart and mind that results in a whole new person.

Notice this change begins with an education. Look at Vs. 20-21, “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.” Look at the words, “learn, heard, taught, and truth.” Paul says, we need to become reeducated from the filth of the world to the truth of Christ.

To “learn Christ” though is a phrase you don’t find anywhere else in the bible. What’s interesting is notice he doesn’t say “learn about Christ,” but just “learn Christ.” In other words, becoming a Christian means coming to know Christ personally.

It is true we need to understand the gospel. We need to know He is the Son of God who came into the world to die for our sin. We need to know what the bible teaches us about Him. But it is also possible to have all that knowledge and still not know Him. We need to learn Him personally and intimately and that means beyond head knowledge.

A relationship with God is not about knowing facts, but it’s about knowing a Savior. That’s what Jesus teaches us in John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Knowing Christ personally begins the moment we ask for forgiveness and grace. Knowing Christ personally begins the moment we put our faith and trust in Him. If you have not done that, then you are not a Christian.

You might be a theologian who can quote the bible from Genesis to Revelation, but you have not learned Christ. I’ll give you an example, there are historians who can tell you everything there is to know about the president of the United States, but they have never met him. They don’t know him personally. That’s not the kind of Christian we want to be. The changed life begins when we learn Christ personally.

Notice Vs. 21, “if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him.” The words “if indeed” here are sarcastic. Because there is no doubt in Paul’s mind they had heard of Jesus. He was the one teaching them about Him. But what Paul is saying is, did you hear Him when I was teaching you? Did you do more than just listen to the words I was saying? Did you open up your heart to Him and respond in faith?

One of the things most difficult about preaching is you wonder if you ever make a difference in anyone’s life. That is what Paul is doing here. He wonders if they are hearing God or just listening to him.

Also, if you are reading the NKJV, Vs. 21 says, “been taught by Him,” and a better translation is “taught in Him,” because the entire theme of the book of Ephesians is “in Him.”

I will give you an example, in 1:1, Paul was writing to the saints who are faithful “In Christ.” Vs. 3 he says, We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing “in Christ.” In Vs. 4, We have been chosen “in Him’ before the foundation of the world.

In Vs. 7 “In Him’ we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of our trespasses. In Vs. 9, He made known to us the mystery of His will, “in Him.’ In Vs. 10-11, “In Him” we have obtained an inheritance. And in Vs. 13 it’s “In Him’ we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit.

The point is, all the blessings of God come to those who are In Christ. And here in 4:21 he says, we are being taught “in Him.” In other words, Christ is doing the teaching. He has given gifts to men to be His voice, but we learn from Christ.

In other words, the moment we are saved we have a new position with God. We are in Christ, and that is ours for all of eternity, but Christ is going to spend the rest of our life teaching us who He is and how to live for Him. And one day we will meet Him face to face and be changed into perfection, but until then we are being taught in Him.

Notice the changed life means getting rid of the old you, Vs. 22 says, “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.”

The old self is talking about who we used to be before we were saved. We were dominated by our sinful nature, and now, every day we have to remind ourselves we belong to Jesus.

I’ll give you an example, when Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, he brought an end to slavery in America. But many of the people, who were slaves went on living as slaves, because it was all they knew. They needed to remind themselves everyday they had been legally set free and they didn’t have to live that way anymore.

And the same thing is true about us as Christians. We remain slaves to sin and our old way of life because we don’t understand and we have been set free, and we need to remind ourselves everyday we belong to Jesus.

Notice a changed life means a changed mind. Vs. 23 says, “and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” We need to change the habits of the way we think. We need to think of ourselves as being victorious in Christ and not defeated by the world. That is what it means to walk by faith and not by sight.

When Paul says, “be renewed in the spirit of your mind,’ he is talking about the spirit that controls us. The spirit that has influence over us. Paul teaches something similar in 1 Cor. 2:12. He says, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.”

In other words, are entire method of thinking needs to be changed. We need to begin to focus on what God s Word says about us and not what the world says. When the Spirit of God speaks truth to us the result should be a change in our mind, our will, and our emotions. It should change the way we think about life.

I have said it before and I will say it again, if you base your life by the information coming from the news networks or the internet you’re going to go crazy. Because your being influenced by the spirit of the world.

But if your mind is being renewed everyday by the Word of God, you will live in peace, joy, and kindness, gentleness, and self control because those are the fruits of the Spirit of God. Those are the things God wants to teach you.

Notice Vs. 24 he says a changed life means a whole new you. Paul says, “put on the new self.” In other words, if Christ has cleaned you up you don’t go back to your old way of life. listen, you don’t take a shower and go put on dirty clothes. That’s the metaphor Paul uses here.

That’s why I began this message talking about how my wife wanted to change my wardrobe. She wanted the man she saw on the outside to match the potential of the man she saw on the inside. And the same thing is true in your relationship with God. God loves us too much to leave us as we are, because He knows the potential of who He is making us to be. (2 Cor. 5:17)

What we learn from this passage is as Christians we are to put off our old way of life and embrace the new life we have in Christ.

Most of us have not experienced the dramatic transformation that Paul went through on the road to Damascus, when he was knocked from his horse and a voice spoke to him from heaven.

In fact, some of us grew up in Christian homes and we can’t even pinpoint the moment of our salvation. But all of us should have experienced change.

We should all be able to relate to the words of an old gospel preacher. Who said, “I ain’t what I want to be, I ain’t what I’m gonna be, but praise God I ain’t what I used to be.”

Primary sermon resources;

Steven J. Cole Commentary on Ephesians

Tony Merida, Christ Centered Commentary

Richard D Philips, Mentor Expository Commentary, Ephesians