"The New Nature"

Intro: What happens when something is transformed? Ultimately, its function and nature are changed into something different. If you played with the toys called Transformers or watched the show or movies over the years, you would see this. The vehicle would transform itself into a sentient robot, aliens from outer space. But they could transform back and forth at will.

Or maybe you didn’t play with those things, but you have transformed something of your own into something different. Maybe you took a nursery or one of your children’s rooms after they grew up and moved out of the house and made it into a new functioning room, like an office space or a study. The purpose and function of that room is now completely different.

Yet, in an even more incredible transformation, Christians are have been reformed and recreated to a new life, a new purpose, with a new nature that drives all that they do.

READ EPHESIANS 4:17-24

CTS: Because you are in Christ, put on your new nature.

I. Out With the Old (17-19)

The beginning of this text is a re-emphasis of verse 1 of this chapter. If you remember, the driving idea of the second half of the book is to walk worthy of the hope to which you have been called. The first overall command was bound up in the idea of united, diverse, and a mature people together corporately. And this then will be played out in how each one of us act. Here Paul begins addressing the individuals of the church, and here in particular, he begins to remind them that they have been changed.

Paul again shows with great authority these commands(17). His is basing this teaching in his testimony before the Lord. He is laying it down in the authority of Christ, that this teaching needs to be held.

Your nature is changed

The first command is a negative command, which means he is telling us not to do something. And the something is rooted in what has happened to us already. Don’t walk like the Gentiles do. In other words, don’t act like the pagans, the unbelievers around you. To the church, you must not walk like them because you are no longer like them.

The idea here is that God’s people are called to be distinct. The way of the Gentiles does not reflect the new identity of God’s people, therefore what they once were should not be described of them.

LOTR: When Frodo put on the Ring of Power around his neck, over time would become irritable, selfish, power-hungry, hateful.

What is the old ways then? A futility of the mind of unbelievers. (Ecclesiastes “vanity,” “meaningless.”)

Darkened minds and hard hearts: This doesn’t mean that every unbeliever can’t have knowledge, but it is rather the understanding of that knowledge, the wisdom of that knowledge. “It means fellowship with him, so ignorance involves ‘a stance’ affecting the whole of a person’s life, emotion, will and action.” - Francis Foulkes. All of a person’s inner being is darkened. The idea of the hardening of the heart is the affecting of the intellect, the emotions, the center of who we are. And we harden our hearts, we naturally suppress the truth, don’t honor God, and come to the point that we see fit to acknowledge him with our lives The effects of the Fall, the effects of sin are incredibly significant and damaging to all people. To the unbeliever, life is ultimately about things that truly have no meaning. They don’t understand their purpose before God. Much of what is said here is expounded further in Paul’s long description of mankind find in Romans 1.

Romans 1:21 ESV

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Romans 1:18 ESV

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 1:28 ESV

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

Alienated from God: And because of this, the relationship between God and man is broken. There is judgment because of this sin and this nature that have. The Gentiles, unbelievers, have incurred the wrath of God, and we must remember that we were once in the same position as they were as well. That judgment is death (Rom 3:23). Death physically but more importantly, death spiritually. God allows us to be given to our desires and our natures that has been brought about with our own free choices to sin against him. We are held accountable and we are separated from God himself.

Romans 1:24 ESV

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

Romans 1:26 ESV

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;

Romans 1:28 ESV

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

But we do not live like this anymore. We are no longer alienated from God because of Christ.

Callous and greedy to sin: And the nature of the unbeliever, which we once had, is one that sin is no longer shameful. Sin no longer causes any shame. Callous, no feeling towards it. And we were once greedy to commit sin. Since there is no shame, and the desire for impurity, sensuality, and greedy to practice it becomes easy since nothing is off the table.

I think we see this in our world today, yet it hasn’t just happened now, but it has happened throughout all of mankind’s history. Read the Bible at all and you will find this to be true. The early Christians dealt with Roman rule, and they were by no means moral in their practices, but very much opposite. All of mankind’s history has been plagued by these things. People are not worse today than they were 50 years ago, they are just more open about it today than ever before. And yet, you were in the same boat as they were. Your old nature dictated it, you were callous at one time as well. Your mind, your actions. Be careful not to be like that Pharisee in the parable in Luke 18:9-14

Luke 18:9–14 ESV

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This reminds us that this isn’t what we are anymore. The new nature, the new heart, will be sensitive and aware of sin.

Romans 1:29–31 ESV

29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Application: This text is a reminder of what we once were, what our natures used to be like. It also is an apt description of the world today. The theological truth, the doctrine is evident in our world, and we have been delivered from it through Christ. There are two ways of living, and the Bible makes that clear. Blessings and curses. Let’s hear again from Psalm 1.

Psalm 1 ESV

1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Don’t crawl back to your old sin. Your new nature implies that your old nature has died. Sin is defeated, and your nature indicates that we no longer walk like we once did. That’s not us

Don’t act like the world: We are in the world, but we are no longer of the world . There should be distinct attitudes and actions that dictate our lives now as believers. What once drove us as unbelievers has died, and new affections for God’s will, work, and plans have replaced them.

The need for power, success, and approval from others.

The need for relationships to bring me purpose and wholeness outside of God should no longer be our nature.

The need for sexual gratification outside of God’s planned purpose within marriage

The need for medicating ourselves with alcohol or drugs to ease the pain.

The need to take advantage of others through emotional or physical action is not our way.

II. In With the New (20-24)

A better way is Jesus (20-21)

Paul in the middle of this paragraph exclaims something very important and vital to this paradigm of the old and the new. He states with clarity for those that are believers: This is not the way you learned Christ!

Jesus is the opposite of the old nature: He is He reverses each of those descriptions, for he is complete opposite of all those descriptions himself. His understanding is not darkened. He is not alienated from His Father (though he would be for our sake). His heart was not hardened. He was sensitive to sin not in himself but in others around him as he wept over their sin and unbelief. He didn’t give in to sin itself, was not greedy to do it, yet was committed and eager to follow the Father’s will.

Jesus took on our sin to transform us: The Gospel declares this:

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus was alienated from His own Father, bearing the wrath for our sin so that we our relationship to God would be restored. Our old self was crucified with Christ, and our sin was removed, giving us a new life.

Romans 6:6 ESV

6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Jesus makes us a new creation:

To be in Christ means that we are made new creations. Jesus doesn’t just save us so that we get to heaven one day, but also transforms us now, in the daily walk of life. Your eternity began at salvation and begins today.

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.

Application: How do we receive this new life, this new description? By faith in Jesus Christ, the completely righteous Son of God who died for our sins to make us righteous. Those that believe by faith in Him (faith implies trust, a relationship.) We must know the one whom can save us and transform us. We must hear of Jesus, be taught about Jesus, and trust in Jesus.

Church, we then reminded that our task is that others would be able to learn of the better way, of Jesus. They must hear. They must be taught. In our homes (is your home centered on Jesus, marriage, children?) . In our workplaces (does your testimony reflect Jesus?) . In our schools. In our government. In our churches. We must diligently and faithfully proclaim the Gospel!

Put on your new nature (22-24)

Illustration: Frodo needed to throw off the Ring. When he didn’t wear the ring, his nature was changed. He needed to destroy the Ring.

And in light of the Gospel, these next verbs are things that have been done in the past but have implications that continue to this day. This shows us how our salvation has a three-fold aspect: justification, sanctification, and glorification. Why is this important?

Justification:

You have already put off the old self and been given the new self by virtue of salvation by grace through faith alone in Jesus. We set aside through repentance the old way of life, “the way of the heathen” that was described in the previous verses.

Sanctification:

Yet you are continuing to live the Christian life by putting off the old nature and putting on the new self. The flesh as we like to call it. In the power of the Spirit we put sin to death daily.

Colossians 3:5 ESV

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

In the power of the Spirit, our minds our renewed and no longer darknened, growing in our faith and trust in God. In the power of the Spirit, we live a new life that reflects our position in Christ, our new nature, one that reflects the likeness of God.

Glorification:

One day our old self, our flesh, will be fully redeemed and our old ways gone completely. We will have our minds renewed in completeness. We will have the new self in fullness realized.

Live who you are in Christ: So with those things in mind, there is a sense in which God is changing us, but we must also yield to Him, to put on the new self.

John Stott says:

To ‘learn Christ’ is to grasp the new creation which he has made possible, and the entirely new life which results from it. It is nothing less than putting off our old humanity like a rotten garment and putting on like clean clothing the new humanity recreated in God’s image.

There is both a divine working and a human responsibility for us as God’s people. We must yield to the one who can change us. We can’t change ourselves, but we are responsible for allowing and not grieving the Holy Spirit as he renews our minds and makes us more in line with who we are in our identity.

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not 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.

And we are created in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness: That’s important to understand. As Paul has said twice already in this letter, we are called to be full of God (Eph 3:19). To measure to the stature of the fullness of God (Eph 4:13). The new nature implies that we are re-created toward the end of living a righteous and holy life because we are created after the likeness of God. Why? Because you are in Christ, the fullness of God!

Application: But what do we mean by this? How do I yield to the Spirit to transform me to be who I already am in Jesus?

Submit to the Word of God by reading, listening, studying, meditating, and memorizing it. We submit to the work of the Spirit who teaches us through the revealed word the teachings of Jesus. The Word encourages us and exhorts us and rebukes us, all toward the end of transforming us to be more like Christ.

Pray that God would work in you and that you will be yielded to his working in your life. Yes, pray for your own spiritual welfare. Not a worldly welfare, but a spiritual welfare. Lord, help me to yield to your Word. Lord, help me to obey the Spirit’s guiding in my daily life. Lord, help me to pray more biblically and kingdom-minded prayers.

Commit to the body of Christ: Commit to regularly gathering, to be discipled, to serve in ministry and one another, unify together around His will, the Great Commission. Sing! Pray! Hear and obey the preaching of the Word! Fellowship!

Disciple others

Fasting: One that I do not do often enough is to fast. Fasting from food is a primary means. But you can fast from things you know can become a distraction. But fasting is meant to reorient our minds, to submit our needs to Christ and realize our great need for Him at all times.

Find a rhythm to your daily walk with the Lord: Habit forming your time with the Lord. Morning. Afternoon. Evening. But find a dedicated rhythm that when you miss it, you feel it. Habits of a disciplined life causes us to yield to renewing of our minds by the Spirit.

Conclusion:

Because you are in Christ, put on the new nature. The focus here has been addressing the inner man. The inner faculties of what we decide to do. Our renewed minds and new natures have real-world implications, as the next text that Chris will preach this coming Sunday will dictate. The new nature will address things like how we speak, how we treat one another, how we deal with unrighteousness, how we work, how we act, how we love, and how we forgive.

Frances Foulkes says:

The truth of God and of his purpose has come to dominate your minds, and this truth has ethical implications. Your lives are no longer dark, your minds no longer vain. You are no longer alienated but walking step by step in the full light of the Lord, and in fellowship with him. So you must finish with all immorality, and the passion for what is impure, and for what outrages the souls and bodies of others.’

This is the necessity of a new nature that God has re-created in us. He has created us to live not in the old ways that once defined. He has changed us from the inside. And that new person we are defines how we walk, how we glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our new nature, united in Christ, is given to us, to the praise of His glory.