Out with the Old

Text: Ephesians 4:17-5:2

Focus: Jesus Christ has put on something new, humanity & death, to put a new self on you

Function: that the hearers may wear their new selves boldly

Problem/Solution Structure

Intro: (Inductive) Grace, Mercy, and Peace be to you from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Before I begin, I want to say thank you again for all your support, the many cards and gifts, the way that you have embraced Molly and I in this new church home. Times of transitions can be tough. You have to say goodbye to the old and you have to welcome the new. Moving is a time of transition for sure. You have to say goodbye to all the restaurants you know, the neighbors you live next to, and the house that you have lived in for awhile. And when you move, you have to go through all your stuff and decide, is this going to come with us? or is this going to get thrown away or stay behind. Molly and I just did this about a month ago after we accepted the call to come here. While we were packing up all the things we have accumulated over 2 years of marriage, we went through some papers and said these are really old, we don’t need these anymore. We found other stuff tucked away in our office and said, these were helpful at the time, but these aren’t going to be useful in Kansas City. I remember going through all my books. You know at seminary you read a lot of books. The big, heavy, books that I needed for that one class that I’ll never use again, that heavy book isn’t making it on the moving truck. Times of transition cause you to analyze, going through, and even get rid of some of the old, outdated stuff you own.

Problem: Image (Deductive): There are some people who really struggle with getting rid the old things they own. For whatever reason they can’t convince themselves to throw out or purge. Maybe they don’t like transitions, maybe they think one day all of their stuff will be valuable, or maybe they keep all of their old stuff because it’s a comfortable way to live for them. There’s a TV show all about people who struggle with it in extreme cases, and it’s called “Hoarders”, maybe some of you have heard of it. This is a show that documents people and all their stuff. They bring a camera crew into different homes of people who have kept all kinds of stuff. You see people who have boxes piled from floor to ceiling. You can’t tell where one room ends and the other room begins. You can’t see what color the wall is or what kind of surface the floor is made of either. Everywhere you look, all you see is different stuff from the years. These people struggle getting rid of the old stuff that they own. For whatever reason, they can’t get rid of their old stuff.

Law (Explanation Using Serial Depiction, Deductive) Today in our text Paul is encouraging the church of Ephesus and us here at Bethany today to remove the old way of life before you knew Jesus, to put off the old self and to put on the new self given to us by Christ. How do we put off the old self and put on the new? This is really difficult for us to do, this is impossible for us to do perfectly by ourselves. Whether we like to admit it or not, we are more like spiritual hoarders than pristine, clean people of God. For some of us, we hang onto to our old selves, because it’s comfortable. We may wear the new self from time to time, the righteousness Jesus has have given us through His death and resurrection, but we sure like to keep that old self in the corner. We like to keep it close. It’s like that person who keeps their old clothes in the back of the closet even though they don’t fit, you’ve out grown them, you like to keep them around because you have great memories with them or you like the style of them. You keep the old clothes there in case one day, you can fit back into them again. Others of us, we hear the words of Paul really want to remove all the old self, but as we begin removing the old self, we find that there is more and more and more. We think that we have completely cleaned out one area of our spiritual closet, but we find that there is an ending pile of the old self stacked from floor to ceiling. We try to clean, purge, remove the old self completely and we get discouraged because we can’t get rid of it all; there’s always something more to get rid of, there’s always something more to remove. Removing the old self is an impossible task for us alone as Christ followers.

Gospel: So, how do we put off the old and put on the new? One answer to this is that there is good news for us. The good news is that God doesn’t leave us alone to clean up our spiritual hoarding on our own. He doesn’t just look down on our messes and think, “Wow! These people are helpless!”, but instead He comes to help you remove your old self. Maybe some of us in our walk with the Lord, feel like a hoarder, who’s sinful life and old self seem to piled up in boxes so high where you can’t see anything else. Everywhere you look is a reminder of a sinful past. Jesus comes to find you in the midst of your mess. Maybe some of you are really trying hard to remove every aspect of the old life. But the more you try and try, the more discouraged you get, more oldness pops up. Jesus removes the old self and cleans the house for you! Jesus has come to free you! We have a God in Jesus, that gets His hands dirty in our old self, to give us something new. Jesus has put on something new to Him, Jesus has put on your old self, He has put on humanity, and death. He has put on that purple robe and crown of thorns to give you new life! He has removed your old self from you by taking it to the grave and in exchange He has given you His righteousness, His holiness. He has given you something new to wear! Because of Jesus, because of His death and resurrection from the grave, you have been made new in Him. Your old self has been removed from you and Christ has been given to you!

You may be thinking, Pastor Sean Christ has given me this new self, but I make mistakes don’t live according His new self that He gave me, so how do I out off the old and put on the new? That’s where His promise of forgiveness, the promise that you are His made to you in your Baptism. At your Baptism, Christ promised that you are His. It’s not like we receive this new self and then we are on our own, independent Christ followers. No, Christ is the source of your righteousness, He’s the source of your newness. He has given you the Holy Spirit to keep you connected to the source, Jesus. In Baptism, He has given you the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you to empower you to boldly wear the new self Christ gave you.

Application: (SD) What does boldly wearing the new clothing that Christ has given us look like? Paul tells us in our text, He says, “Stop saying falsehood to your neighbor and live truthfully with them”. So when your talking with your neighbor about someone else you tell the truth and assume the best of them instead of gossiping about them; that’s boldly wearing your new self Christ gave you! Paul says, “Do not let your anger lead to you to sin” So when you are dealing with that person who absolutely grinds your gears , Paul says to treat them with love, that’s boldly wearing your new self Christ gave you! Paul says, “Don’t steal or let unwholesome talk come out of your mouths” So in other words treat others with honesty and respect, that’s boldly wearing your new self Christ gave you! He really sums it up in chapter 5:2, “life a live of love, just Christ loved us” that’s boldly wearing the new self Christ gave you! Sharing the love of Christ in all of our actions, that’s boldly wearing the new self Christ gave you! I encourage you today this afternoon to do something to live a life of love today. That could be making dinner for your spouse, giving up your time with the TV, so someone else can use it. It could look like doing the dishes or cleaning the house even though you weren’t the one to make the mess. My friends, while connected to Christ, your oldness has been through off, and you have been made new! Christ has made you new in Him!

Now may the peace of God, the God who redeemed us through Christ and God the Holy Spirit who leads us to boldly wear our new selves Christ gave us, may He guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.