Learn More (2)

People of More

We all have an identity and here at the Avenue G Church of Christ our identity is wrapped in the simplistic form of our mission statement. People of More! We truly believe that if we are living out this four step mission statement that we are truly pleasing to God. If you are a member of this body then you understand and know. If you are visiting, would like to be a member, or be baptized this is the time of year in which we review that statement. We are people of more! Here’s a brief summary…

Learn More

Love More

Do More

Teach More

If you’re not working on being confident in one then you should be on another. There should never be a time in our lives where we are not engaged in at least one of the four! Today our focus is on Learn More.

Some of us have fond memories of learning and others not so much. Some were straight A students and others found out ways to FIND A GOOD INTRO ABOUT WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO LEARN Nothing happens without something causing it. Only God is a product of existing without something being the cause. As Christians we are tasked with teaching others and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is hard to do so if we have terrible lifestyles, it is hard to teach and convert when we are the same as the world, and it is most definitely hard to live the Christian life when we have no idea as to what it is we are to do!

The apostle Paul records in an epistle to the church at Ephesus a reminder of what the old life looked like and what the new one should look like. A change of life is not only for new converts/baptisms, it is for ALL Christians. The new life is prompted by Learning...

Ephesians 4:17–24 NRSV

17 Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19 They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 That is not the way you learned Christ! 21 For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:17 NRSV

17 Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds.

Paul speaks here in reference to those living in Ephesus who have yet to become Christians. Those who have not been baptized. He state that the life of a Christian must be different.

People who don’t have Christ have futile minds

Futile- Pertaining to being useless on the basis of being futile and lacking in content—‘useless, futile, empty, futility.

Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 624). New York: United Bible Societies.

In your B.C. days what made up the content of your heart?

Power- The desire to influence others.

We should only seek to desire others with the interest being gained from the power of God.

Independence- The desire for self-reliance.

Independance should not turn into a relationship of ignoring God and the spreading of his word to others.

Acceptance- The desire for inclusion.

The only acceptance that truly matters is from God.

Romance- The desire for sex and beauty.

Romance and sex are fine within the confines of marriage.

Physical Activity- The desire for exercise of muscles.

With God we don’t lose sight of the fact that these bodies will one day be gone in the twinkling of an eye!

Money- The desire to amass great wealth.

With God we understand to be cautious with money as the love of it is the root of all evil.

Idealism- The desire for social justice.

With God we understand that justice doesn’t just pertain to US (race, people groups, political parties, citizenship status)

Sadly once we become Christians not much changes as we transform these desires towards the Church and other Christians. At times we fall back into ideologies of our past. There is nothing wrong with any of these on this brief list but without God, they are pointless! God tells us how to properly deal with and handle of of these things.

The mind of a Christian must have purpose. Why do you think the way you think? What is your purpose for why you do what you do?

Ephesians 4:18 NRSV

18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart.

Ephesians 4:18–19 NRSV

18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19 They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

Here’s the danger in ignoring the Christian mind and learning.

Darkened in their understanding

What if you hadn’t eaten in 7 days and you were provided with a whole chicken, a stove, seasonings, flour, and Crisco yet you did not know how they all worked together? You would bite in to the chicken only to become deathly ill. You would leave the chicken sitting out instead of placing it in a refrigerator. You would mix Crisco and flour together and eat it. And use the stove as a table to eat from. This is life with darkened understanding. You have some sense as to how things should work.

Alienated from the life of God

The life of God is eternal who wants to be a foreigner when it comes to that? And it is due to the next two things. There are two type of people who will miss out on eternal life. The ignorant and the hard hearted. Both are a choice.

Ignorance- To not know. To be unaware of.

Hardness of heart- Stubborn unwillingness to learn, mental stubbornness, close minded.

Loss of sensitivity

Willful licentiousness- Lack of moral restraint.

In context this was pointed towards sexual immorality. But this can be applicable to any sinful action that you are unwilling to stop engaging in.

A hunger for EVERY kind of impurity

This is even worse in that you now WANT to be impure! You have a hunger and thirst for impurity!

When a Christian ignores their mind they condemn themselves. To be immoral is to commit spiritual suicide!

Ephesians 4:20–21 NRSV

20 That is not the way you learned Christ! 21 For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus.

Paul has to remind this group of Christians about something they had previously learned.

Don’t forget that Jesus is described as Christ here. He could have very well used the name Jesus but he chose to use what He did and not just what he was called. Our actions are important as we are now appointed for a task! Not to live in darkness feeling our way around BUT to live purposeful lives FOR God!

You are not too old to get your mind whooped!

As children when our parents had taught us one way and we chose to act in another we would sometimes get a whooping! This was not to kill us but to set us back straight!

We have to understand that we will NEVER know everything! But God has given us enough for salvation now and towards eternity.

The world presents to us a mirage of truth. We are sure destructive ways were helpful to us. But ONLY in Jesus can truth be found.

Truth points towards purpose. And truth can be found in Jesus!

So how?!

Ephesians 4:22–24 NRSV

22 You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

eph 4 22-

Taught…: It is not mentioned in the original language but is carried over from the previous verse.

What they learned

put away your former way of life

Be renewed in the spirit of your minds

In doing so you will be able to put on this new person which is created in the likeness of God. in true Righteousness (Doing what is right) and Holiness (Being useful for God’s purpose)

Righteousness- This is really for you. You can save yourself a lot of pain by KNOWING and doing what is right.

Holiness- This is for the lost. They don’t know which way to go and their moral compass is off. You have a purpose and that is to help others to LEARN what you KNOW.