Patterns of Renewal

Introduction

I have this odd thing that I like to do. My wife makes fun of me for it sometimes. But I have to start my day fully dressed and ready to go. If I don’t have my jeans on and shoes tied within the first five minutes out of bed, I might as well take a sick day. I can’t function unless I’m prepped and ready to go. And it’s not just that, it anything; any activity, any sport, any outing, I have to dress the part. And it turns out, I have science on my side.

A recent study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that what people wear influences how they feel and act. If, for example, somebody wears a lab coat associated with being a doctor, that person will be more successful in tests that require paying close attention than if he or she were wearing ordinary clothing. Hajo Adam and Adam D. Galinsky call this phenomenon “enclothed cognition.” What we wear influences how we think. I want you to keep this in mind today as explore our passage from Scripture.

We’re continuing our series on Ephesians today. Last week, Don talked about how the body of Jesus is strengthened and empowered through these different gifts of grace. And the way in which the church is able to go out and live a life patterned after Jesus is through these gifts. It’s interesting that in our day, we have come to define the word gift as ability, but that’s our English language at work. It’s better to think of a gift as a spiritual ministry that he is calling into to serve and encourage and lift up the community toward deeper and sturdier faith in Christ. This, that body is getting ready to go out, to put its pants and coat and start walking.

Let’s pray and dive right in.

PRAY:

Futile Desires = Calloused Hearts

Ephesians 4:17–19 CSB

Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.

Paul is talking about the default mode of the human heart that is separate from God. See, without God, you are left to your own devices to discover and obtain whatever it is that will make you happy and whole. And what has society said for eons about how you become happy and whole?

You follow your heart. Wherever it leads, no matter what. And by heart, we mean desires, loves, urges, passions, affections. Proverbs 4:23 actually says that your heart is the source of life. So, whatever it is that stirs up and makes you feel all warm and good inside, that’s your aim. More of whatever that is. So it if it’s sex or money or education, you pursue getting as much of that as you can. If it’s a romantic relationship with someone, you go after that, unless your heart decides you want someone else, then you have to leave that one behind. Most companies out there are convinced that following your heart means buying as much of their product as you can.

We have an insatiable desire to fill our selves with pleasure, power, and possessions, in the hopes that we mind find our source of life in the process, to satisfy the desires of our heart. It’s like trying on different outfits, one after the other, to see which one is you.

But there is this problem that perhaps you have discovered. Try as you might to fill yourself up and become happy and whole, every vice and venture never seems to satisfy. In fact, it seems to do the opposite. It leaves you wanting more. More sex, more money, more cars, better cars, more marital commitment, better marital commitment, different marital commitment. On and on and on. There’s a reason why pornography is a $12 billion dollar a year industry. There’s a reason why the illicit drug industry is worth $360 billion worldwide. There’s a reason why 50% of marriages in the U.S. end in divorce. It’s because every hit of dopamine to our systems simultaneously increases our dependence and decreases its effectiveness. We keep following our desires, and they keep fading and failing.

We can’t seem to give up on our loves, and yet our loves keep giving up on us.

Two things I want you to hear from this. First, Paul wants you to know that this default mode has changed. You have been given a new heart, a new set of desires, and a new source of life in Jesus. When you give your self to him, that futile way is gone, and a new life stands before you. So don’t go back, don’t return to those desires that enslave and entrap with their false promises.

[It’s interesting by the way—and this matters when you think about the kind of person that you are—that Paul talks of “the Gentiles” as something other than you. See, for the Jewish people, there was the nation of Israel, and there was every other nation (“Gentile”is a latin word; the word in Greek ethnos, meaning other ethnicities).]

Second, this default mode, for many in our towns and neighborhoods and schools, is still the heart condition that defines loves and directs lives. It is still embedded in the beings of your friends and family, of your classmates and coworkers. It remains the core story of nations and people groups around the world.

Darkened in understanding.

Excluded from the life of God.

Given over to a desire for more and more.

The deep awareness that must come over us as we hear this reality is that the state of our world is exile from God’s good life, a life that is freely available, yet somehow far away. The world needs to know the life and light of Jesus if it is to be transformed. And for it to be transformed, this next section is paramount.

A New Way

Ephesians 4:20–24 CSB

But that is not how you came to know Christ, assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.

I believe that the the world is transformed when transformed people bring Jesus into their lives through faithful presence and good work (and I mean “good work” as that anything that brings about the flourishing and multiplication of God’s good creation—more on that in a moment).

Paul says, you did not come to know Christ by your futile search for happiness and wholeness. You came to know Christ because he drew near to you and embraced you with his love and kindness and forgiveness, and through him you found the true source of life.

When you pray for the salvation of your family members and friends, or your schoolmates or co-workers, how do you expect that salvation to come about? Do you expect them to keep searching where they are, with the condition of their heart, and hope that they eventually get their act together and come to church? Why? What inclination in their heart would motivate someone who is far from God to draw near to him? Our pray instead is that Jesus would draw near to them and show them how much he loves them, to kindly and gently and humble come around them and remove the chains of slavery and sin.

Oh, by the way, last weeks passage says that Jesus is the head, and YOU are the body. So how does Jesus draw near? When you draw near.

But to do so, you have to be transformed into his likeness. That’s what a Christian is; when you bear the name of Christ, you resemble him in your actions, in your words, in your attitudes and desires. And you can’t do that if your still clothed with the old way of life.

So Paul provides a three-step process right here:

Take off your former self (active)

Be renewed (passive)

Put on the new self (active)

Look at these three things for a moment. I want you to notice here that the way of transformation is a partnership.

First, you take off your old clothes; you reject the old way of doing things .That’s you, that’s a personal decision you make, everyday, not to go back to the former life, your former identity as Jew or Gentile—or, hipster or gamer or addict or slut, whatever it is that used to be your everything. Those titles no longer define you, they no longer determine the trajectory of your life. Take off your former way of life.

Second, you are renewed. Now, this is not you at all. You are not the active agent here. When you let go of that core identity, whatever it was that you could not live without, you create space for the Holy Spirit to come and change your thinking, to redefine your loves and your affections.

This is the moment that separates religion from relationship, and it’s the glue that holds all of this participation together. Because on your own, the taking off of the old self and the putting on of the new is impossible. I guarantee it. And that’s because the old self is comfortable, and safe, and known.

Imagine you have two shirts in front of you. An old, ratty, dirty, smelly shirt, with holes in unsightly places that you’ve worn forever. You don’t even know where you got it, it’s been in your closet for so long. The other shirt is brand new, fresh, clean; people aren’t put off by you when you walk by. But you’re not comfortable in it, you’re afraid it’s not you, so you go back to old reliable because even though you know it’s time to throw it out, you at least know where you stand when you have it on.

I have been here, friends. I have sought to say no to sinful, self-serving ways of life and identity, only to return to them, even though I know they destroy me, they destroy my relationships. I do this because they make me the center of my universe. They make me a god in my own eyes. And it can keep taking off the clothes, again and again and again, but the urge to feel that old reliable self just keeps coming back.

The only way I have ever experienced freedom and breakthrough? It’s through something I can’t truly explain. It’s when I finally admit before God and before the world that I cannot, on my own, keep beating back the former self, that I am done overcoming in my own strength and power, that I am weak and tired and enslaved. And this strange thing happens. The Spirit of God comes and sets my mind free. He reorients my thoughts, my urges, my desires, my drives. He fills me with life. I can’t explain to you how it works, I can’t give you the steps on how to experience it for yourself, because I‘m not the one doing it. I am rewired and redirected toward a different way.

And the Spirit’s changing my thinking (Paul calls this renewal) enables step 3: put on the new self. This is a daily action, moment-by-moment in fact, to put on the a new identity, to be defined by Jesus.

Check out Paul’s words here. What kind of ”self“ do we put on? One created according to God’s likeness. In other words, we are clothed in the image of God. Guys, this is new creation language here that harkens all the way back to Genesis 1. At the very origin of the the universe, God makes man and woman together according to his likeness, to be the physical representation of God to the world. Then he gives these image bearers a command. Go and multiply throughout the world and tame the good but wild world I have made. Go and be present in the world and bring about more goodness and grace and beauty. Work to bring about a deeper and more fruitful union of heaven and earth.

Here’s the kicker. That mandate has never changed. It has been redefined through Jesus, but it has not changed. So, back to Ephesians.

Why are you being transformed? Why are you being renewed and clothed in the image of God? To take God’s goodness to the world. To work and be present and show the world that to be ruled by Jesus is to find life and beauty and goodness. And that, for us, is a daily choice that we make. When you bear the mark of Christ on your heart, you partner with him to live differently in this world, not to make God happier with you—that’s self-serving religion—but so that God might draw tangibly near to others. And that daily action, to live different, welcomes and assists God’s work in us.

So, how do you do this? What does it look like to daily choose the image of God in your life? Paul has some ideas for you.

The Contrasted Life

Ephesians 4:25–32 CSB

Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the devil an opportunity. Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

These comparisons come down to one thing: Are you living for yourself, or are you living for others?

When I hide my addictions from my wife (lying), I protect myself and my image at the expense of my marriage.

When I give into bitterness and rage (anger), I destroy others to build up my own ego.

When I tear down my friends through foul language (which is not cuss words necessarily; Paul has in mind shouting and slander here), I stand on the bodies of those I have wrecked.

When I take for myself without regard (stealing), I take opportunity and worth from others to pad my own comforts.

When I wound the Christian community and foster division, I grieve the Holy Spirit and fight against the ties of joy and love that bind us together.

But…

When I speak the truth about myself and about the good news of Jesus, I honor those around me and give grace the space to work.

When I pursue conflict resolution and forgiveness, I free others to find life.

When I choose encouragement and compassion, I can show others the way of Jesus.

When I make instead of take, when I work and contribute and serve, I love the people in my community with everything I’ve got. I share what I have and bring more life.

It comes down to our need for an ongoing put off/put on experience: to put off falsehood and put on truth, put off stealing and put on work, put off unwholesome talk and put on edifying talk, and put off bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, and malice and put on kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and love.

And it’s not enough to just take off the self-stuff. You have to replace it.

It’s easy to get stuck in “put off” mode. As a whole we Christians can be known more for what we’re against than by what we’re for. Take off lying. Take off anger. Take off hurting others and pleasing myself. Stop this, don’t do that, thou shalt not. And what happens is that we become spiritual nudists. Seriously, we are naked Christians who have put off the old self and have nothing in its place. And that might work for a hot second, but at some point you’ll get cold and ashamed and in need of some comfort, and guess what? You’ll go right back to the old self, because that’s where you’ll feel safe and marginally alive.

There is also a tendency to ignore the “put off” element of the Christian life. We are so eager to draw people to Christ and so unwilling to appear to be judgmental that we minimize or even ignore the call of Jesus to repent or the call here to put off the old self and put on the new. It’s like you’ve got that ratty old decaying shirt that’s destroying you from within, and you put that great new shirt on over the top. Guess what? The old shirt is going to have a pretty significant effect on the new one. This is what happens when we take Jesus and add him into an otherwise unchanged life. We keep our addictions, we keep living for ourselves, we keep pursuing our lusts and and wants, BUT we have Jesus too. Kinda.

We don’t need “Naked” Christians who have put off their old self but are putting on nothing in its place. Nor do we need more doubly dressed Christians who have put on the new without stripping off the old. Rather, we need to recover the full picture of the Christian life that is informed by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ and the character of God himself.

In your DNA group today, I want you to ask yourself: What do you sense needs to come off in your life? What needs to be put on? And if your struggling, let me put it this way, are the patterns of your life working to elevate you, or elevate others? Are you finding life and happiness and wholeness in you, or in Jesus? Whatever it is, however small or huge, Jesus desperately wants to replace that old self with something new, something better.

Will you choose, daily, to put on Christ?