Putting on the New Self

Noah Hicks

Ephesians: Alive in Christ • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Ephesians 4:17–32

Sanctification

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Introduction

Good evening students! It is so good to see each and every one of you here this evening. Tonight, we will be continuing in the book of Ephesians. Last week, we looked at how Paul called for the Ephesian believers to walk in a manner worthy of their salvation. This week, he calls for these believers and us to put on the new self which will be our focus tonight. But, before we get there, did anyone have a new year’s resolution this year?

Oftentimes, every new year, people will make a new year’s resolution which is a goal that they want to complete within a year. For instance, many people will make the new year’s resolution to eat healthier. Others will resolve to work harder, work out more, sleep less, sleep more, help others more, spend less time on their cell phone, or spend time with more friends and family. With these new year’s resolution, you may have hear the phrase, “New Year, New Me.” People have said this regarding a new year’s resolution as they seek to be a different person over the course of a year. People seek to change from their old ways to take up new and better ways.

However, in tonight’s passage, Paul goes much deeper that a new year’s resolution. Paul speaks of those placing their faith in Jesus taking off their old self and taking up their new self in Christ Jesus. This is more than simply a new year’s resolution. Paul is speaking of a lifelong change that effects eternity. Paul reminds those that have placed their faith in Jesus that they are to continually put off the old self which was how they were before Christ and put on the new self which is who they are in Christ.

Let’s look at Ephesians 4:17-32

Ephesians 4:17–32 ESV

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.

Pray.

Paul has just finished writing and urging these Ephesian believers to seek unity and maturity. Now, Paul calls for the Ephesians to put off the old self and to put on the new self. Upon doing so, Paul then explains how this will look.

Christians have a new life in Christ Jesus.

Look back with me at verses 17-19

Ephesians 4:17–19 ESV

Remember that Paul is writing to a network of churches that were primarily made up of Gentile believers. Notice, that as he writes he specifically states, “you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.” Typically, Gentiles were referred to as those that were not Jews. However, Paul writes using the word Gentiles in a different fashion here. Paul is writing in a moral sense. Paul uses the term Gentile to reveal or call out the sinfulness in which one is not to walk. Paul ultimately uses the term Gentile to refer to a pagan or pagan culture.

Paul uses the phrase futility of their minds. Now, the word futility means, “uselessness.” Paul is pointing out that these Ephesian believers are no longer to walk or live according to the pointlessness or uselessness of their minds. Why? In verse 18, Paul mentions three aspects of the mind of the Gentile or pagan. Pagans were those who did not believe in Christ. They believed in many gods and held differing sinful practices. The pagan’s mind is darkened, separated from God, and inclined toward sin. As we look at Paul’s description of the Gentile mind or pagan mind, we will recognize the desperately sinful condition of humanity.

First, Paul says that the mind of the pagan is darkened in understanding. The human mind is dark because of our sin fallen nature. All of humanity is inclined to sin against God. This is why our mindset is messed up and we see bad things taking place in our world all the time. This is why crimes are committed. This is why when you are young you lie, steal, and throw temper tantrums. It is because we are all born with a sin nature and fall short of the glory of God.

Second, Paul calls the mind of the pagan or sinner separated from God. The human mind is separated from God again because of sin. God cannot be in the presence of sin. Because humanity is corrupted by sin, all of humanity is born separated from God, and the only means of redemption comes through faith in Jesus Christ. This separation from God is due to a hard heart. Sinners have hard hearts toward God and are therefore separated from Him. This is oftentimes referred to the unregenerate heart or the unbeliever’s heart.

As Tony Merida writes regarding the heart of the unbelievers mentioned in this passage, “They have had opportunities to respond to the good news, but they refused repeatedly.”

Lastly, look back at verse 19.

Ephesians 4:19 ESV

19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

The sinfulness of the pagan, sinner mind, hardness of heart, and separation from God gives way to a life of sin and impurity of every kind. Paul is laying the hard truth all out in the open in this passage of Scripture. Paul speaks of the dire sinfulness of humanity. Apart from Christ, we are all so desperately sinful. I am desperately sinful apart from Christ. I have sinned against God and still fall to sin because of my sin nature. Before Christ, I was living in sin and separated from God. I could not honor God because of my sin.

Tony Merida further notes, “Left to ourselves, we are vile. And even though some may seem less vile, all are still in desperate need of Christ.”

You see, Paul is warning about the sinful state of humanity. The whole point of Paul talking about the futility of the mind is to point to the sinfulness of humanity. Humanity left to itself will do whatever it deems as right. Because of this, we see such sinful things happening in our world today. We see injustice of all kinds all around us. During this specific time, Paul is writing of the pagan culture that practiced and did whatever it seemed was right. It reminds me of our culture. Our culture says that we should do whatever we feel is right. Or, that each and every one should live their own truth. Whenever that happens, everyone lives simply however they want to which leads to chaos as there is no moral standard that society is held to.

However, there is a moral standard that is outlined in God’s Word. God is the Holy and Only God. He created the universe, gave us His Law, and gave us His Son to die for our sins, and then gave us His Word that tells us how we are to live and honor Him. Truth is found in God’s Word.

So, Paul is urging these Ephesian believers to not live like the pagans; likewise, he is urging us to not live like them as well. Paul is calling for us to live for Christ. We, as Christians, are called to live for Jesus each and every day. While we just talked about the complete and utter sinfulness of humanity. It seems as though every thing mention is very gloomy and full of doom. However, Paul goes on to encourage these believers and us as we find our hope always rooted in Jesus Christ.

Let’s look back at verses 20-24

Ephesians 4:20–24 ESV

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.

Paul reminds these believers that were taught Jesus Christ. Jesus is completely opposite of the sinfulness of the world. Paul says that Jesus is the truth. Moreover, Jesus called Himself the truth in John 14:6. These Ephesian believers learned Jesus, a living person, who was perfect and lived among sinful humanity in complete obedience to God as fully man and fully God.

We, much like these Ephesian believers, learned Jesus as a living person who is still very much alive as He is at the Father’s right hand. That is why whenever we become Christians we do not just learn about Jesus’s teaching. We do learn about His teachings, but to be a Christian is to place your faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified therefore establishing a relationship with Him. Jesus is alive and seated at God’s right hand.

Acts 2:32–33 ESV

32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

Now, Jesus is seated at God’s right hand and advocates for us as His children. What that means is that whenever we pray, Christ goes to God on our behalf.

Romans 8:34 ESV

34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Jesus is our advocate to God the Father. So, as we know that Christ is the truth and alive at the Father’s right hand, we as Christians have a relationship with Him. Or, do you have a relationship with Jesus? If not, tonight you can by repenting of your sin and believing that Jesus is God’s Son who came to earth from heaven, lived perfectly, died upon the cross for your sins, and rose from the tomb on the third day before ascending back to God the Father.

Paul has reminded the Ephesian believers and us that we were taught Jesus Christ. Now, we find the command to put off the old self which is the sinful self that we talked about earlier. In Christ, we are a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Because of this, we are to put off the old self which is our former way of life before Christ and seek to live for Christ as the new self. Much like the new year’s statement, “New Year, New Me.” We can modify that as Christians to be, “New Lord, New Me.” As we no longer are slaves to sin, we are slaves to Jesus Christ and a new creation as we no longer live for sin. We now live for Jesus seeking to do away with sin.

Now, putting off the old self takes work and does not often happen overnight.

R. Kent Hughes writes, “But the truth is, our sins will have to be put off daily as long as we live.”

Because of our sin-fallen nature, we will have to live lives of continually fighting against sin. We will not get saved and be perfect. After we place our faith in Christ, we are still going to fall to temptation and sin. However, the Holy Spirit dwells within the body of believers and convicts them of that sin and leads them to repent. Then, the believer continues in his or her daily fight against sin with the power of the Holy Spirit. This is what we call sanctification. The longer we live and fight against sin, the more we will become like Jesus. Paul says 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. This is the call of the believer. We are to renew our minds continually. How? Through the reading and studying of God’s Word.

R. Kent Hughes writes, “This is done by reading and studying God’s Word and by asking the Holy Spirit to continue his renewing work.”

Putting off the old self takes daily commitment to follow Christ seeking to grow closer to Him in every way. May we study His Word, fight against sin, and repent of sin whenever we do fall. Continue to put on the new self.

Putting on the new self calls us to live like Christ.

Look back with me at verses 25-32

Ephesians 4:25–32 ESV

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.

Paul now lays out what it looks like for Christians to live having put off the old self.

First, we must replace lying with speaking the truth to one another. Putting off the old self calls us to forsake lying at all cost.

Secondly,

Ephesians 4:26–27 ESV

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.

Put away sinful anger. We can be angry. However, we are called to have a righteous indignation. What that means is we are to be angry at sin. Much like Jesus in Mark 1 when He turned over the tables in the temple and drove people out using a whip. That was Jesus’s anger toward sin. We to should have anger toward sin. Notice, that Paul says, “do not let the sun go down on your anger.” What he means is that if we are angry with someone, we should seek to resolve it as soon as possible. Moreover, if we don’t, we give satan a foothold on our lives because of sinful anger toward someone.

Ephesians 4:28 ESV

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.

Thirdly, we are called to be honest workers. This goes for students just as it does for adults. In your school work, you are called to do honest work. Do not cheat because you are only cheating yourself. For those of you who do have a job or maybe do work for others, always seek to do a good job and your best work. We are called to work from the book of Genesis. Likewise,

2 Thessalonians 3:10–12 ESV

10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

We are called to work according to God’s Word. In doing such work, we are able to give to others in need. Putting off the old self and putting on the new self calls us to honest work and sacrificial giving.

Ephesians 4:29 ESV

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.

Ephesians 4:30 KJV 1900

30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Fourth, build one another up and do not use corrupt speech. This goes for discouragement, cussing, and inappropriate language. Seek to honor God in the things you say. This one is a tough one for many of us; however, whenever we honor God in our speech others will take notice. Our speech is tied to us grieving the Holy Spirit or dishonoring Him. We must build one another up with our speech.

Ephesians 4:31–32 ESV

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.

We must replace bitterness, wrath, and anger with forgiveness as Jesus has forgiven us.

Invitation

Christian: As we seek to put off the old self and put on the new self, all these things will not come at once. We must strive to daily live for Jesus seeking to be more like Him.