Put Off, Put On
“Put Off, Put On”
Eph. 4:20-32
Intro – Change is hard. Change for the good is hard. Change is possible. And change is expected. A major theme of the book of Ephesians is change. Let me see if I can demonstrate this to you as we take a step back and look at the big picture. We’ve been working our way through the details of the text – fighting our way through the jungle sort of speak. I think that we need to take the time to step out of from the trees and look at the forest. We need to fly over the text and see things from above.
We recall that the book of Ephesians is broken into two large sections. The first section (chaps. 1-3) are the theological or doctrinal section of the book. It is here that the Apostle Paul informs us as who are in Christ – our present state. This refers to those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation and reconciliation with God. It is here that we are reminded of being given spiritual blessings, chosen before the foundation of the world, predestined for adoption, redeemed, forgiven, obtaining an inheritance. This causes Paul to break out with thanksgiving and prayer to his God. And then, lest we become conceited or proud, Paul quickly reminds us of our former state – before Christ in chapter 2.
It is here that we see our hopelessness and inability to save ourselves. Apart from Christ, we were dead in sin, following the course of this world and Satan. We lived in the passions of the flesh and were children of wrath. But God… God made us alive by his grace, saved us, seated us in heavenly places so that he could show what wonderful people we are!! NO!!! So that GOD would be glorified. He saved a hopeless people to proclaim his grace and mercy to us.
In the rest of chapter 2 and chapter 3, Paul tells us that the Gentiles are now co-members in the body of Christ, his church. He has reconciled them into one body. He likens it to a building, a holy temple, a dwelling place for God.
You will notice that Paul does not end the book with chapter 3. To which you say, “Hey. This guy is pretty observant!” But the point I want to make is that he did not stop with doctrine. He didn’t concern himself with merely filling their heads with new information. Because the Christian life is not an intellectual pursuit… it is a transformational one! Paul begins chapter 4 with “therefore” I urge you, beseech you, exhort you to walk in a manner worthy of this calling”.
In chapter 4, Paul says to walk in v.1, to grow into maturity and stature in v. 13, to grow up in every way in v. 15, to no longer walk as the Gentiles in v. 17, to put off the old self, to be renewed, to put on the new self, and to be imitators of God in chapter 5. He elaborates and says do this, not like this. This is what it looks like in your relationships. And in chapter 6, Paul reminds us that change will be difficult because there is an Adversary that doesn’t want you to change. He wants you to live lives of mediocrity and defeat so that God will not receive glory from your changed life. But Paul also wants you to know that you have every provision to thwart his attacks – that being the armor of God.
OK. Let’s prepare for our descent. Let’s start to zero in on our passage for this morning. We are going to revisit a couple of verses from last week because it is so rich it deserves more attention. We are in chapter 4 of Ephesians and we’ve just read that we are new people – adopted children of God. We have been brought from spiritual death to spiritual life. We are a new people, the saints, the church set apart to glorify God. We are recreated. We are not fairly good people with a bit of tweaking. We are renovated, not remodeled.
Then Paul commands his readers to no longer walk as the Gentiles in v. 17. They are darkened in understanding, alienated from God, ignorant, hard-hearted, callous, sensual, greedy… And then he gets to verse 20 and the Greek text says, “But you”. That is not how you learned Christ. Pastor Doug reminded us that this refers to their salvation. They heard and responded to Christ. They learned Him – not just about him, or of him.
The point that I want to make here is that when you are recreated in Christ, you now have the capacity and the ability to change. You can now claim Philippians 4:13 which says, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” That verse is not referring to bench-pressing 400 lbs. It means to carry out what God has called you to be or to do. Philippians 1:6 reads, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” And again in 2:13, Paul writes “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” When you are dead in sin apart from Christ, you follow the course of the world and the devil. You are NOT living to the glory of God. But you now have the indwelling Holy Spirit who empowers you to live a holy life to the glory of God. And it is disobedience for the Christian to do otherwise.
The first of two points this morning is Paul’s Exhortation.
Verses 22-24 of chapter 4 elaborate on what it is we are taught in v. 21. We are called to put off the old self, to be renewed in the spirit of our minds and to put on the new self. I think those three things are the book of Ephesians in a nutshell. Changed thinking leads to changed lives. Paul is going to great lengths teach them to think differently, and then exhorts them to change in response. What he is saying here is that as that we first need to be renewed in our minds in order for our behavior to change.
And that this is precisely what biblical counseling is! Biblical counseling is applying biblical truth to life. Most people have problems because they are not living the way God intended them to. Some people have problems because they are. So it helps to have someone else look to Scripture and help to discern whether or not someone is living biblically. In the case of those that are not, some are still alienated from God and do not have the capacity or ability to live God-glorifying lives. The Word of God has answers for that. Would you agree?? Does the Bible deal with marital relationships, parenting, finding joy in the Lord?? Is there anything better than helping people finding the joy of living for God by looking in his Word??
Do you want to know another great thing about biblical counseling? It does not create a dependency on the counselor, medication or a program. Rather, it cultivates a dependence on the grace of Jesus Christ – which is truly freedom. There is hope in this counseling. You are not seeking to treat symptoms. You are being transformed as you allow the Word of God to carve out the sin that is preventing you to live a life of joy and obedience. And the two go hand-in-hand. There is great hope for those who want to change!
And the first step is to renew our thinking. We need to stop living and thinking like the world and we need to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Romans 12:2 tells us “not to 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.” The major battleground for lasting change is the mind. It’s worth noting here that the word “mind” is really synonymous with heart in the New Testament and is the center of thought, understanding, belief, motives, and actions. It is your inner man.
And when Paul talks about being renewed in the “spirit” of the mind in verse 23, he means one’s disposition. Whereas before you were inclined to carry out the ways of the world, now you need to discipline your mind to be inclined to godliness. And this is not easy. It requires work and discipline. In a previous men’s study, we studied a book called The Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life. It is a great book that reminds us that it takes work and discipline to train ourselves for godliness. It’s not hard to do things worldly. You just go with the flow. But Christianity is countercultural. We go from serving self to serving God. Which comes more naturally?? I don’t know about you, but I find it very easy to think of myself first and often. What we need is both dehabituation and rehabituation. We need to stop doing what comes easily and start doing that which pleases God. It has been said that one cannot simply break a habit; he must replace it. And that is what we will see in the following verses. You put off by putting on!
Let me just say at this point that you notice a cycle once you implement these concepts. As you renew your thinking, you know what to put off, you know what to put on and you continue to be renewed in your thinking. How does one renew their mind?? The Word and prayer! And you don’t have to know the whole Book before you implement it. There is plenty for you and I to do with what we already know. Let’s all start there shall we? If we were to put off and put on what we know to be true already, that would keep us quite busy for a while! I could make a good list of things for myself. I don’t know about you.
And just in case you don’t know where to start, Paul gives us some concrete steps to follow starting in verse 25. And this introduces my second point which is God’s Expectations. So Paul’s Exhortations and now God’s Expectations.
Let me point out a few things here as we go to the specifics. First, you will notice a pattern as Paul rattles of a bunch of commands in these next few verses. They are not suggestions of what may help you on the journey. Rather, they are commands that believers are to carry out. Paul will offer both a positive command and a negative command and a reason for carrying them out. Also, I want to go on record as saying that there is always a clear expectation for us to pray. We are to pray continuously. That’s part of the renewing process. But as we begin to look closely at the put off and put on, notice that Paul doesn’t say to pray about the old self and its habits. He clearly commands us to do something.
Allow me to read over these verses in their entirety first. Beginning in verse 25, we read “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.”
Paul first exhorts us to put away falsehood and speak the truth. Paul continues to draw from the strong contrast from living like the world, or the Gentiles, to living for God’s glory. I would suggest that this very issue is the core distinction between the two. If you spent any time in Sunday School as a child you learned that God is truthful. We believe that God means what he says and that what he promises, he will follow through on. Titus 1:2 tells us that God never lies. Deuteronomy 32:4 reads “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” Numbers 23 tells us that God will not lie and will not change. And on the other side there is his Adversary, the devil. In John chapter 8, Jesus reminds us that the devil is the father of lies. He is the father of lies, tempting us with the lie that there is no God and life is all about us. So, naturally, they two are opposed to each other.
We live in an age where we minimize our sins. We excuse them. We have respectable sins. This is especially the case with lying. We even call some “white lies”. Think back to the Garden of Eden. Was not the first sin a response to a lie from the devil? So we could say that the world is as it is today because of a lie. How about Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5? They sold a piece of property when the early church was pooling their resources together and they kept back some of the money for themselves. And they were both struck down, not because of withholding the money, but because they lied to the Holy Spirit. It truly is a bigger issue than you or I often think of it.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones in his excellent commentary on Ephesians was talking about the subtle ways that we lie; through exaggeration and misrepresentations. He writes, “So we make our deliberate mis-statements and inventions, or again we may lie by saying nothing. We just conceal the truth by withholding it. And then another very common way – exaggerations! You have got a story to tell, and it is quite a good story, but you rather feel that if you embellish it a little it will be still more wonderful, it will make you still more wonderful, so you exaggerate. And every time we tell the story it grows with the telling. We told it the first time and it produced a good response; ah! We thought, that is good! We add a little to it, still better response! And on and on it goes. In the end, what we are now saying has really never happened at all; it has been so exaggerated that it is nothing but a lie. Why does mankind do this? Why exaggerate? Why add to things? Why withhold? Why fabricate? Why invent? Trace it out, pick it up at any point in yourself or anybody else, and you will always find that its purpose is to minister to this self and this self-importance. It is our aim to win the good opinion of others, and to be praised and to be highly thought of; so we pursue a course of lying and building up the façade, putting on the camouflage, appearing to be something that in reality we are not. There is nothing that finally shows the real, foul character of sin so much as lying, because speech is ultimately the supreme way of manifesting our personality.” Ouch! I guess no more fishing stories guys!
Rather, we are to speak truth to one another. Not some of us, not most of us, but each one. The use of neighbor here has to do with our Christian brothers and sisters. And Paul includes the reason for doing so. It is because we are members of one another. And in this context, Paul is contending for the building up and strengthening of the body of Christ. And replacing falsehood with truth is the very core of our endeavor. How are we doing? Are we able to speak the truth with one another?? I am encouraged as of late. There has been a growing interest in mentoring and accountability. There are people stepping forward and saying that they want to grow in Christ, and part of that process is being held to account in their spiritual walk. I will admit there is nowhere in Scripture that explicitly commands you to have one. It is merely a way of intentionally seeking that sort of relationship that will help keep you in check.
There are a couple people in particular that I really appreciate. Chris Bradburn is one of them as he continues to ask me out of the blue “how is your walk?” – meaning my walk with Christ. I love that!! Or Karl asks me “hey, how is your prayer life lately?” Do you know what that communicates to me? That people care enough about me and the church to speak truth to me, and to inquire of my spiritual health. And it is not just your “accountability partner” that has the right to ask these questions. It is the entire body of Christ. For we are members of one another. This isn’t an individual effort! What is at stake ultimately is the glory of Christ as it is manifested in his church. And we recall that as we have learned Christ, we have learned the truth. For the truth is in Jesus (v. 21). John MacArthur adds, “God’s work in the world is based on truth, and neither the church nor individual believers can be fit instruments for the Lord to use if they are not truthful.”
Next, we are told to be angry. Yep, that’s what I said. We are commanded to be angry. And if we are not angry over pedophilia or other child abuse, abortion, racial hatred, murder, and other things that grieve our God, then we need to take a closer look at ourselves. For we are to imitate Him. However, the verse continues. Paul adds that in our anger we are not to sin. This is important! It is important because we can’t allow even righteous anger to produce sinful behavior. We don’t go around killing pedophiles, blowing up abortion clinics, and retaliating on other issues. THAT is sin!! Rather, we are to deal appropriately to such things. The world needs to know what we believe and why we believe these things. And they way that we conduct ourselves will testify to our God. We can have a positive or negative effect on those who are watching. Romans 12:17-21 reads, “17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
And if we are honest, we would conclude that the majority of the times we are angry, it is not because God is insulted. It is often when we are inconvenienced or when dealing with our own pride.
Paul then commands us to deal quickly with our anger – even righteous anger. For anger that lingers, turns to bitterness - which we know is also a sin. He writes that even before the sun goes down, we are to deal with the anger. I remember this was like a key verse for our premarital counseling. So, at the end of the day we were encouraged to lay it all on the table so that there were no unresolved issues between us. I do see the benefit, but don’t think that is primarily what Paul is referring to here.
Anger and bitterness in the church is quite dangerous because it can quickly become divisive. And we know that Christ is glorified in our unity. Remember verses 2-4? We are to walk with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit. We realize that it is impossible to agree with one another in all things – whether they be doctrine, individual or corporate practice. What we need to do in such instances is to be able to discern what the essentials are and what the preferences are. Sometimes the lines are blurred. And we need to hold first to what the Scriptures say. I realize that this isn’t easy. That’s why Paul includes such words as humility, gentleness, bearing with one another in love.
We also need to remember that our Adversary would like nothing better than to see Christ’s church divide – because we testify to him. We become ineffective in our task to make disciples of the nations. So let us not give the devil an opportunity in our churches and in our families. Deal with the anger before it becomes bitterness.
Next Paul commands the thief to stop stealing, but to labor in honest work so that he has something to offer. Believe it or not, work is a biblical concept. We won’t go there now, but I would encourage you to look at the examples of Proverbs where the wise person labors and the fool is likened to a sloth. Work was not a result of the fall of man because Adam was already charged with the care of the Garden. Check it out!
And before we quickly dismiss this command to those who steal bikes and cars and money, let us hear the words of James Boice. “There are many different ways that we can steal… We steal from God when we fail to worship him as we ought or when we set our own interests before his legitimate interests. We steal from him when we fail to honor him by our lives or fail to tell others of his love. We steal from an employer when we do not give the best work of which we are capable or when we waste time or consistently leave work early. If we are in business, we can steal by overcharging for what we make or for the service we render. We steal if we sell an inferior product, pretending it is better than it is. We steal by borrowing and not repaying. We steal by damaging another’s reputation. We steal from ourselves when we waste the time, talents, or resources God has entrusted to us.” Again, ouch!
We are called to be stewards of our money, our bodies, our gifts and talents to his glory. How are we contributing? How are we sharing with those in need? 1 Timothy 5:8 reads, “8 But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
Ok. This next verse is the one that may hit even harder. Verse 29 reads, “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.” Some of your translations may read “unwholesome” talk. I believe that the word “corrupting” communicates the word more accurately. Unwholesome gives the idea of a characteristic; whereas the word “corrupting” has more of an ongoing effect to it. I think we can all personalize what this looks like in our own lives without my elaboration on it – whether it is gossip, excessive sarcasm (as in my case), foul language, etc. What it does not refer to is speaking the truth in love. Some words may sting and are still good for building up and gracing those who hear. We speak truth for the good of the other and for the glory of God.
Verse 30 tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. I believe that this has the sense of “in so doing” do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. When we do not change our ways, it grieves God because we are blessed in our obedience. As a parent loves to bless his children, so God longs for us to enjoy him by living an obedient life. We continue to struggle through this life when we continue in sin.
And just to summarize the changes that should occur in the believer, Paul includes the following in verse 31– bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice. And then Paul concludes the section reminding the church to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. How do you think our relationships would change if we learned to forgive like this?? If I can recall my own sinfulness before God and the forgiveness he offered to me, how can I not forgive my brother or sister? No matter the offense. No one has offended me more than I have offended God!
There may be some who don’t know the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ. There is nothing that you can do to rectify your sinfulness save for the grace of God. You cannot earn righteousness. But God is willing to forgive you when you come to him, repent of your sin, and surrender your life to him. And God’s grace is greater than any of your sin. He doesn’t care who you are or what you’ve done. He stands willing to receive you as His child. Please ensure that you are indeed His child this morning.
Let me conclude by saying what I said earlier: That we put off by putting on! So let me positively exhort you to speak the truth to one another, be angry without sinning, labor and provide, speak as to build up, and be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving. And what you will find is that you will stop lying, sinning in anger, giving an opportunity for the devil, stealing, talking corruptly, and grieving the Spirit of God.