Pentecost 11 (5)

Ephesians 4:17–24 NIV84

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. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. 20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 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.

We are a liturgical congregation. This means that we have a very defined order of service that we follow when we come together to worship God. We have become so accustomed to it, that perhaps we don’t even think about the flow of the worship service. After all, we have been using our choice of page 15, 26, or 38 for many years.

And before that? It was either page 5 or page 15 of TLH depending if there was communion or not that Sunday.

And now in many of our WELS congregations, the introduction of the new hymnal has provided some more variety and perhaps getting members and pastors to think more about what is being said, heard, and sung in worship.

How often do you think about the origin of our liturgy and why we say and sing the things we do? Have you ever studied the liturgy? I know at Grace we did about five years ago.

Our text today reminds us of an integral part of our worship that takes place near the beginning of the liturgy.

We open with the opening hymn.

We have the invocation.

And then we confess our sins to God beginning with an acknowledgement of what we were like before we came to know and believe in Jesus.

“Merciful Father in heaven, I am altogether sinful from birth.”

“Holy and merciful Father, I confess that I am by nature sinful and that I have sinned aginst you in my thoughts, words, and actions.”

Do you believe this? Do you realize that were not innocent little babies when we were born and that we needed to be saved immediately? In our baptism liturgy this is emphasized, isn’t it? (Quote)

“All of us are born into this world with a deep need for baptism. From our parents we inherit a sinful nature, we are without true fear of God and true faith in God and are condemned to eternal death.”

This statement of faith in our being born in original sin and having a sinful nature is based on

Psalm 51:5 (NIV84) 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

John 3:6–8 (NIV)

6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

“Since the fall of Adam, al lmen begotten in a natural way are born with sin, that is, without fear of God, without trust in God, with concupiscence; and this disease, or vice of origin, is truly sin, even now condemning and bringing eternal wrath upon those not born again through Baptisma nd the Holy Ghost.” (A.C.,Art. II, Triglot, p. 43).

In Galatians St. Paul describes what that sinful nature is like. Galatians 5:16–26 (NIV84)

16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. 19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Therefore, the temptation to sin comes not only from external forces, but from our very own original nature. So we confess that our spiritual enemies are the world, the devil, and our own sinful nature.

In Ephesians, St. Paul’s main emphasis is comparing how those early Christians used to live as those dominated by the sinful nature and that now as Christians, they were to fight against that and strive to live according to the new man who had been created in them.

Application. For most of us, I would say that we do not come from sinful lifestyles and vile patterns of living dominated by our sinful nature because we had been made Christians at such a young age and were influenced greatly by the Gospel and Christian family, friends, and fellow Christian members. But that does not make us immune to the influence of our sinful nature. Martin Luther acknowledged that when he urged his fellow Christians to daily drown the sinful nature through confession and repentance (research).

What does Baptism mean for daily living? Answer: It means that our sinful self, with all its evil deeds and desires, should be drowned through daily repentance, and that day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever. St. Paul writes in Romans 6: “We were buried therefore with him by Baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Here in Ephesians is emphasized that walking in newness of life is a sharp contrast to how those controlled by the sinful nature live.

Ephesians 4:17–19 (NIV84)

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. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

Those without God are hardened to his authority and the threat of his punishments. It is like becoming calloused. When I was young I did a little bit of personal body piercing. I would take pins and stick them into my hands. I would feel no pain. Why not? Well, in those days I worked with my hands. I formed large callouses. Now my callouses are on my big toes from playing. But we know how callouses work. The skin become hardened and impervious to what would otherwise harm it.

A person who allows himself/herself to be dominated by the sinful nature can become calloused.

By ignoring our conscience, we find ourselves doing things that would have otherwise appalled us.

By tolerating the sins of others, we become insensitive to the evil they are doing.

But our society seems to pick and choose its vices. We would all agree that abusing children and child pornography is heinous. But legal pornography dominates the internet and certain businesses along busy highways.

Foul language, dishonesty, scoff laws of traffic laws are acceptable. What Paul saw in ancient Greece dominates certain areas of morals even today. “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.”

1 Peter 4:3–6 NIV

3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

Jesus attributes this to outward expressions of our inner sinful nature. Matthew 15:18–19 (NIV)

18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

Live a Life Worthy of the Calling you Have Received.

This not only applies to being at peace (as we heard last week), it applies to how we live according to God’s moral code.

Ephesians 4:20–24 NIV84

20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 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.

This is Paul’s way of saying we are to live as born again children of God. Earlier we had noted out confession that we are born with a sinful human nature because of Adam and Eve’s sin. Their sin led to the immediate loss of the “image of God” and having been created to be in communion with God and to be holy as he was but with the ability to sin (which God cannot do). Having sinned, all of Adam and Eve’s descendants were infected except for Jesus because of him being begotten of the Holy Spirit. Jesus acknowledged our sinful human nature and the importance of being born again in John 3. Here St. Paul refers to how we have been born again. “Made new etc.”

St. Peter expands on this as well: 1 Peter 1:17–23 (NIV84)

17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

What does this mean?

We are changed. Live that way empowered by the Holy Spirit through believing the Word of God.

Paul will continue with practical examples of how we are to do that which will be the content of our sermon next week. To be continued . . . (But you can read ahead by all means.)