Learn Christ

INTRODUCTION:

Illustration of wanting to be like someone.

TRANSITION:

Michael Jordan - What separated Him was His mindset.

Our mind is where it all plays out, when it comes to living a certain lifestyle.

BODY:

Ephesians 4:17–24 “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Paul states, “Now this I say …”

In English we have this laid out as “Now this ...”

But in the Greek the word “This” is actually first. “This now ….”

So it reads, “This now I say and testify in the Lord”

The word “Testify” has weight to it.

It can be translated as “Testify” but more so as the idea of “solemnly, affirm, urge, or insist.”

So Verse 17 could start out by saying, “This, now, I express and solemnly urge in the Lord”

The phrase “in the Lord” lends authority to the exhortation.

Paul has the authority to speak this!

I will stop here to say that this is what we find depleting in our culture today;

…. reverence, ….. respect and ….. the honoring of God’s word.

Some people look at it as “Folk lore”

Some people look at it as for “weak people”

Some people look at the bible as something that is “outdated.”

You will even find people who believe its “Fictional.”

Paul states, What I am about to share with you comes with the authority that was given to me.

This is something that we find depleting in our culture today;

The acknowledgment of God’s word as authoritative,

Lacking an educational understanding of Gods word,

and compassionate followers of God who are willing to share the truth.

The respect for those who share the word is drastically declining.

We see people shout them down, write them off, or smear their reputation.

So Paul has the authority, wisdom and passion to share with those who are reading this letter.

“This now I say and testify in the Lord”

“that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do”

He is not necessarily saying this is what they were doing.

He is affirming to them that they are not to go back to it or stay in that lifestyle.

You have been set apart, you have been redeemed.

First, he basically repeats what he indicated in the book of Romans, what they are not to be. “Do not be conformed to this world.”

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

(Ephesians) “that you must no longer walk as Gentiles do,”

Paul is reminding the readers who they are in Christ.

Sometimes it helps people see who they are in Christ by reminding them of who they once were.

The word “Walk” can be translated as “LIVE”. (NIV)

The Amplified Bible translate it “that you must no longer live as the heathen”

Here the implication of the Greek term often translated “Gentiles” means much more then merely non-Jews.

This verse could be rendered, “you must no longer live like those who do not trust God” or “… who do not live as God says they should.”

Whats interesting is Paul is not commanding this. (Urge, Exhortation)

Paul listed out four particulars they are to be different from Gentiles.

The first of these is (17) “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.”

The allusion is to their frivolous, empty aims in life, and their unfixed, unsettled impulses.

The Gentiles were chasing shadows, blowing bubbles, doing anything to make time pass agreeably; not considering or knowing either what they were, or where they came from, or where they were going. (Does this sound familiar to our culture today.)

This phrase is an adverbial phrase identifying the way Gentiles typically lived.

(Emptiness, purposelessness)

They are characterized as “walking in the emptiness of their mind,” which means that their thinking, their reasoning, is worthless.

So if this is how the Gentiles live, the encouragement is for the followers of Christ (Christians) to live a life of fulfillment and with purpose).

2. The Second is found in Ephesians 4:18 “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”

Paul is stating they are blind to all that is most vital—ignorant …. of God, ….. of the way of salvation, and …… of the love of Christ.

So the encouragement is for the followers of Christ (Christians) to live a life that knows God, has received the free gift of Salvation, and Loves Christ.

3. The Third is found in Ephesians 4:18 “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”

Two causes are given for their alienation, 1. ignorance, and 2. hardness of heart,

The last being the ultimate cause.

Through worldly living, their hearts have become hard, callous, insensible to spiritual influences,

….. perceiving no beauty in Divine things,

….. no preciousness in Divine promises,

….. no excellence in the Divine image;

This makes them ignorant, careless, foolish; and such being their state of heart, they are alienated from the life of God, hating the very idea of spiritual and holy services.

So the encouragement is for the followers of Christ (Christians) to live a life that is united with Christ.

Not just knowing about Christ but knowing Christ.

And living with a heart that is tendered toward the things of God.

4. The Forth and final difference, Ephesians 4:19 “They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”

“They have become callous” Without a sense of shame, without conscience, without fear of God or regard for man, without any perception of the dignity of human nature, the glory of the Divine image, or the degradation of sin.

They “have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity,

This is the climax—heathenism in its worst and fullest development, yet by no means rare.

The sensuality of the heathen was and is something dreadful.

Many of them gave themselves to it as a business, worked at it as at a trade or employment.

But the encouragement is for the followers of Christ (Christians) to live a life that is without shame, revering God, and detesting Sin.

This is the climactic point …..

You are too no loner live as the Gentile do ….

In the futility of the mind

Blind in ones understanding

Ignorant, Careless, and Foolish

Becoming callous and submissive to the ways of the world.

He states ….

Ephesians 4:20 “But that is not the way you learned Christ!—”

This is a significant statement.

Despite the English translation, its first word is the emphatic personal pronoun referring to Paul’s Gentile readers—Hymeis (“you”)

It doesn’t start with “But”

“You, however, did not so learn Christ”

In the original the sentence begins with the word you, on which, accordingly, great emphasis is placed, as if to say,

“You did not learn Christ so as to continue to live as the Gentiles are doing.”

To learn Christ is more than to learn about Christ.

There is a similarity found in Colossians 2:6–7 which combines “receiving” with “being taught.” Colossians 2:6–7 “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Does “learning Christ” mean learning the tradition “about Christ”?

Yes, but that is too limited.

In Colossians, what has been taught and what has been received is a person rather than a teaching about him—though that surely would not have been excluded from any instruction in the faith.

We recall the prominence given to teaching ministries in the gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11.

Clearly, teaching is more than imparting facts and dogmas; learning is more than the acquisition of information.

It is growing into Christ (4:13, 16), becoming more fully a part of Christ as members of Christ’s body.

To learn Christ is to encounter and commune with the risen Christ present in the church. Hence the clause You were taught in him (Eph. 4:21).

He did not say “learned about Christ,” because it is possible to learn about Christ and never be saved.

To “learn Christ” means to have a personal relationship to Christ so that you get to know Him better each day.

I can learn about Sir Winston Churchill because I own many of his books and can secure books about his life.

But I can never learn him because he is dead.

Jesus Christ is alive!

Therefore, I can “learn Christ” through a personal fellowship with Him.

TRANSITION:

Living a Christian lifestyle is not obtained by an external style of life but by an internal mindset that becomes externally visible.

Romans 1:21 “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Romans 8:5 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”

Hebrews 10:16 ““This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,””

CONCLUSION:

If your relationships in Christ does not correct the evil and sin in your life there is something wrong with your profession of faith.