Change Clothes Week 4
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We are continuing our series titled “ Change Clothes”. If you haven’t been here the past few weeks we’ve been talking about this idea of changing into the new, New year new you, putting on that Jesus swag, or whatever way you want to express renewing your mind from
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. 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. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
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Week one- We talked about in some ways our hearts have been hardened to the idea of being worthy, or not being good enough or it just isn’t my style or flat out disbelief. “God looks good on them” but not me because of...( enter your reason here)
We looked at Where Paul is talking to the Ephesians about the misery of our hearts apart from saving grace.
Week two - We talked about this metaphor of the “The Dressing Room”. This idea that once you have come to a place where you’ve been doing some shopping trying to figure out who you are or what would it look like to really live Jesus out. You want to try it on first to see if it fits.
We looked at Ephesians 17-24 to explain how Paul is writing about changing your conduct through transformation and not information. Information is great but it cannot take the place of renewing of your mind.
I can’t
God Can
Let God
Look within
Admit Wrongs
Ready yourself for change
Seek God’s help
Week 3- The idea of When the Master says, "Change your clothes," they adjust their collars or shine their shoes, or tuck in their shirts, but they won't take off those cherished habits. We looked at
Become willing
Make Amends
Daily Inventory
Pray and Reflect
Give it away.
Week 3
We talked about the stage when you begin to change your style… You thought man that looks good on them, you’ve tried it on in the dressing room and now you’ve wore it a few times and you trying to figure out. What else can I wear with this? How can I live like this at school, work, around my non christian friends, in places where I’m the only one dressing like this?
We looked at
Paul gives us some contrast of what doesn’t look good with Jesus and gives us some examples that we should always wear with our Jesus swag.
Paul is talking about putting away falsehood and speaking truth. While it seems elementary for many of us we are not always honest with who we are. We are giving our family or friends the waterdown version. These things don’t good look with Jesus. Paul urges us to be angry but do not sin, He encourages us to work instead of stealing, watch our mouths because words reflect our hearts. Finally he tells us to avoid grieving the holy spirit and put away harsh traits that dont look right while wearing Jesus.
This week we are going to talk about the point in the process of changing styles or putting on Jesus where doubt enters. You seen the outfit on someone else, decided to try it on, you wore it a few times and you’ve even found some different things that looks good with this new look and then somebody says something, or self doubt starts to creep in and you have a setback with a sin or desire you thought you were over. So you wonder…..
Am I a Fraud
We usually start to ask ourselves this question when we find ourselves dipping in some of those old ways or we hang out with someone who doesn’t know God and make us feel weird or stupid cause we are doing something new. The emotional feeling is over and we become disconnected and we start to wonder… Am I a fraud… is this really me… Can I keep this up….Do I really believe this stuff? Your swagger starts to fade and this enlightened feeling disappears. So how do we handle this?
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
New International Version (NIV)
New International Version (NIV)
For today’s message I want to dive a bit deeper into the book of Ephesians to give us some context of what we have been covering the last few weeks.
For today’s message I want to dive a bit deeper into the book of Ephesians to give us some context of what we have been covering the last few weeks.
Who wrote the book? Paul
When was it written? Believed to be around 60 AD when Paul was prison
Who was it written to? Ephesians is primarily written to Gentile (non-Jewish) followers of Christ—most likely the church in Ephesus.
Why was it written? Paul wrote this letter to encourage Gentile believers, and to make it clear that Jews and Gentiles have been brought together as part of one body in Christ. Paul is also concerned that his audience be made aware of the moral laws they may have been lax in following (or that they were unaware of).
What does it say? Ephesians is first and foremost an encouraging letter. Because of Christianity’s strong roots in Jewish history and religion, it was natural for early Christians to wonder if Christ’s gospel was limited to Jews, or if Jewish Christians held a special status because of their ethnic heritage. Paul clearly wants his Gentile brothers and sisters to know that in God’s kingdom, they are first-class citizens alongside their Jewish brethren.
Paul also reminds his audience that since they now belong to Christ, they must start living their lives differently. They need to distance themselves from immorality and strive for spiritual purity.
What can we learn?
this letter would have been tremendously encouraging to the non-Jewish believers who received it—and its message that Christianity is not bound by ethnicity is important for readers today, no matter our nationality or ethnic heritage. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is filled with reminders that God’s kingdom is open to all those who put their faith and trust in Him.
Before Christ
Verse 1- 3
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
2 jAnd you were kdead in the trespasses and sins 2 lin which you once walked, following the course of this world, following mthe prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in nthe sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in othe passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body1 and the mind, and pwere by nature qchildren of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Before Christ we were a lot like this mouse.. Living with an empty purpose turning here turning there running into dead ends, retracing ending up in the same place sometimes chasing the cheese in hopes of satisfying your hunger for a sign that you are alive, chasing temporary fulfilment.
Paul is reminding us that the first blessing with changing clothes was redemption. See he is speaking to the gentiles who had some doubts if Jesus message was just for the Jewish or “ religious” people. He says, Jesus looks good on you and don’t let no one tell you you are not apart of the body of Christ. We would all be considered gentiles because we are not jewish. Some of us might feel like we don’t belong… so we can relate to not feeling accepted.
Paul’s conversion on the Damascus Road also represented his calling to serve as a missionary to the nations. The Lord made it clear when Paul was converted that he was “a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” ().
Paul’s role as a missionary is captured by the words Jesus spoke to him on the Damascus Road according to : “…to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Paul was God’s chosen instrument to bring God’s saving message to the ends of the earth.
Paul was dead before Christ. We were all dead living a life of never ending sin following the world to every dark water it would take you with no coming up for air.. Just hitting another wall, another complication, another battle another struggle.. We all have lived there before… Some of us are still there.. We are running to the darkness because of anxiety, pressure, trying to live up to someone else’s standards. Allowing other people to tell us what is acceptable and not. We are running from our problems into another problem. We are dead!!
Sort of like the scary movie scenes you know the one where the power goes out and they end up in the basement. We are all like “ Don’t go down there” or the scene where they stick to their plan hide somewhere and bang they hit the enemy and he goes down and they have to go and check to see if he’s dead… cmon run get out of there.
Paul goes on to talk about how by nature we deserve death. Why? Examine your heart for a second. Think of some the things you have wished on people even your own family out of anger or some of the lines you have crossed. You on your own make tons of bad decisions we are faulty. We get emotional, We tell ourself lies, we say stuff out of anger.. We have tainted perceptions of others intentions.. Apart from God We are in a world of trouble.
BUT>>>
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
We are God’s creation. He loves us. Think of the way you love your family. God loves us even more so than your capable of loving. No matter where we have been, how many times we turn our backs even when we were living in darkness he loved us still. When you were lying to your parents, He loves you, doing drugs He loves you, sending inappropriate texts and pictures He loves you,It is by his grace and your surrender that he says. I don’t care what they say about how you.I think you look wearing Jesus . Now this comes with a costs.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Verse 8
Not because you earned the right, not because your good enough, not because you occupy a seat at church functions. It is your belief in him and what he did that he secures your fate. Paul wants to make sure we understand there is nothing you can do to earn your way or burn your bridge. It starts will faith.
Now the hard question… Are you a fraud when it comes to faith?
Everyday you wake up and turn the faucet you have faith clean water is coming out..You don’t think twice. You don’t ask for proof it has went through the cleaning process.. You don’t know the employees that work there are doing their jobs. You have faith without any knowledge, Yet you trust.
You know those people in a place called flint MI they once had that faith to.. We know what’s going on there.
We open the pantry and refrigerator and take out foods for breakfast. The strawberries are from California, the blueberries from Chile, and the milk from a dairy in another state. The cereal was produced in Battle Creek, Michigan, and the coffee originated in South America. Will you be poisoned today? It has happened, you know. You were not alongside the inspectors of those berries or the FDA people overseeing those plants or the agricultural people checking out the coffee beans at the port. However, you give this no thought and open the newspaper and eat your cereal. By faith.
Everyone who goes into a restaurant lives by faith.
Everyone who goes into a restaurant lives by faith.
Where did your food originate? Did the handlers in the kitchen observe safe practices? Do they wash their hands? Did anyone cough on your food or even—perish the thought—spit in it? Did another diner reject the plate you are now being served? Did that steak fall on the floor in the kitchen and they merely picked it up again and replaced it on the plate? You have no way of knowing.
When was the last time the health department inspected this restaurant? What grade did they receive? Have they done anything about their cockroach problem? Are the floors and countertops clean?
No one—well, not one person in a thousand—checks out these things. We live by faith.
Well, we could go on like this all day.
People, circumstances and intellect will constantly find ways to challenge your faith, tell you this isn’t for you because your not perfect, Funny how the bad stuff is God’s fault and the good stuff is all me. So when you are putting on Jesus.. And you start to go through doubt and struggle ask yourself
Are you dressing to IMPRESS OR EXPRESS
IMPRESS- make (someone) feel admiration and respect.
Express- convey (a thought or feeling) in words or by gestures and conduct.
If your here great! Continue to take to up your cross and define yourself by your actions and conduct.
If your at impress . Stop wearing Jesus to put on a mask and gain approval. You will never be transformed until you deny yourself and become vulnerable by admitting and humbling yourself to say on my own I am broken, I don’t have it all right, I don’t know everything, I make mistakes Embrace the tension of losing control and Take up your cross daily.” and follow God
Small Group Questions:
What is one thing you like about winter?
What is one thing you you learned today about the book of Ephesians?
Rate your relationship with God from 1-5-- 5 being sold out and your on your way to bible college. Have you ever asked yourself if your a fraud?(if you have accepted Christ). When do you feel that way? How do you get past that?
What is something you have faith in that you don’t think about?
What is challenging your faith now?
Would you say your dressing up in Jesus to impress or express?
If your expressing? What steps are you taken to further your walk with God?
If your honest enough to admit that your impressing, Who is one person you can be vulnerable with?