21 "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness {comes} through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
Fallen Condition Factor(what is this? read this book.): Living in the Strength of the Flesh
I must die to myself.
Illustration: Miracle: the players had to learn that they were not individuals but their identity was tied to the team and the nation they represented.
Application: Are you willing to go and tell those you most despise the gospel? Are you willing to love those you most despise?
My life now is faith in Christ.
Illustration: Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).
The life of Wilma Rudolph, the great Olympic sprinter, is a remarkable story of faith. Wilma was born with health problems that left her crippled. "Will I ever be able to run and play like the other children?" Wilma asked her parents.
"Honey, you have to believe in God and never give up hope," they responded. "If you believe, God will make it happen." Taking her parents' counsel, she painfully struggled to walk. By the time she was 12, to the delight and surprise of many, Wilma no longer needed her braces. She went on to play basketball on her championship high school team and win three gold medals in the 1960 Olympics.
When you hear inspiring stories of faith like Wilma Rudolph's, do you sometimes wonder, "What could I accomplish if I took God at His Word?" Faith is the foundational principle of the Christian life. Believing who God is, what He says, what He has done, and what He will do defines the
Furthermore, faith is the essence of the Christian's day-to-day activity. Paul wrote: "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him" (Colossians 2:6). How did you receive Christ? By faith. How then are you to walk in Him? By faith. In Scripture, walking refers to the way you conduct your everyday life. Victorious Christian living and spiritual maturity are determined by our belief in God.
We tend to think of faith as some kind of mystical quality which belongs only in the realm of the spiritual. But everybody walks by faith. It is the most basic operating principle of life. The question is, in what or in whom do you believe? We are challenged to believe in God and take His Word seriously.
Dr. Anderson, Freedom in Christ and Harvest House Publishers www.ficm.org
Application: If you were on the brink of bankruptcy and you sensed the Lord leading you to start a new job without any leads in a specific city, would you go? If you were an employee at a company and you knew your superiors were practicing business in an unethical manner, would you tell their superiors knowing your job may be gone? If you were at school and you knew that a teacher was giving extra credit by watching and reviewing a movie you knew your parents wouldn’t let you watch, but you were failing the class and then would help you pass, would you goto a friend’s house and watch the movie? Matt
Christ’s death is my righteousness.
Illustration: They who are blind can see and they that see are blind, for they that are blind trust in the Lord for guidance and protection. By hearing they believe and are strengthened in faith. They believe AND THEN they see in spirit. But they who see are blinded by vanity and distractions. They assume they know so much, but really they know so little. They believe not unless they see, and for that reason they WILL NOT see. Therefore they are blind
Argumentation: Heb
Application: Whose righteousness do you live by? Is it your personal list or is it the perfection of Christ? How do you know that you are holy because Christ truly rules in your heart or because you don’t do what those people do? Compare yourself to Christ and then grow by the power of the Spirit?
He was a deacon, a public school teacher, and a faithful husband and father. Throughout his life he had performed many good deeds. In fact, over the past eleven years of his life he would spend three hours every week at the homeless shelter serving meals to the homeless and handing out soap and towels for showers. He even had given over $5,000 to this ministry over the same period of time. He had spent numerous, uncountable hours after school tutoring many students. Many of which went from a C average or below to well above a B average. Many of these students who had no hope of college were now attending universities throughout the
Do we truly seek Christ and allow him to make us new? Is his righteousness what we seek or do we just seek to do what looks right?
In our passage today we see that our fruit displays our condition. What we do merely displays the condition of our soul. We may have the right actions but do we display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control? We may display loving actions, but do we love? Do we display joy? Do we display gentleness? Do we display the fruits of the spirit? We will see three truths concerning the display of fruits.
First we see that the righteous are grown by the Lord. As we look at this passage both the parable and the explanation we see that the wheat is the result of good seed being sown. Verse 24 says, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.” Later, we see that the tares are not the good desired from the seed, but that the wheat is what is desired. When the seed was planted, the desire was to grow wheat, but one night someone came into the field and sowed the seed for the tares to grow. The servants come to the landowner and asks, “Sir did you not sow good seed? How then do you have tares?” The owner did not want the slaves to remove the tares. In the explanation of this parable Jesus tells the disciples that the good seed are the sons of the kingdom. The tares are the evil ones. But before he tells them that, he explains that the sower of the seed is the Son of Man. One of Jesus’ favorite titles for himself. He wants them to understand that he is the one who will return and claim his people at the end of the age. The desire of our Lord is to sow good seed that leads to righteousness. We cannot take parables literal and explanatory in every aspect so I would say that in this parable there is any teaching on election, but simply, our Lord sows good seed. The fruit that he desires from us is good fruit. We who are the Lord’s are to develop fruit that is consistent with his character. We are to demonstrate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
A family was in desperate need of a new car, so they began to pray for this new vehicle. After some time of saving and praying, they began to look. As they looked for this new vehicle, they had a list of what they wanted in it. They looked at the cars that had wheels. Then they looked at the ones that had a steering wheel. Then they began to look at the cars that had a speedometer so they could drive this vehicle responsibly. Then they looked at the cars that had a gas tank. Over time the narrowed their search down to about 500,000 options within the city they lived. Then they began to narrow the search down to the vehicles they could afford and then they had to choose a color. But their search began with insuring that what they were looking for would produce the desired results. The ability to be driven.
When the Lord draws us into salvation his places within us a seed that will produce the desired results of holiness and righteousness and this is called the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works within us so that we might be a pure example of Christ’s holiness and righteousness. Notice that after the growth of the seeds and when the fruit is displayed then it is known which is good and which is not.
The second truth we see this morning is that the unrighteous are grown by the devil. Now this may sound terrible as of saying those who are apart from Christ are of the devil. Jesus said those who are not with me are against me. Also, if you are not of Christ then you are not where God would desire you to be which is with him and so you are of the devil. This is not to say that those who are unbelievers are evil and wicked, but that they are not of God and his kingdom. But in the eyes of the Father those who are not with him are against him. In verse 27, the servants come to the master and say, “did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?” Verse 28, “An enemy has done this!” Someone who is opposed to the landowner has snuck in and sown poor seed among the good seed. The one who sowed this seed desired to destroy and disrupt the work that was being done for good in the field. Jesus goes on to further explain the parable. He says, “the tares are the sons of the evil one and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.” Now how many of us would honestly say that the work of the devil is good? In our world, there are very few who would say that the work of the devil is good. What he sows is not meant for edification but for destruction. Jesus tells us in verse 38 that the field is the world. Very important as we continue to look at this more deeply. Then in verse 39, the harvest is the end of the age. So what we are looking at here is who is going to enter the eternal kingdom. How will Christ, the Judge of the end times, know who is to enter who is not to enter? Those who enter are of Christ. Those who do not enter are of the devil. Those who enter will display the fruit of the good seed, the Holy Spirit, God’s Word. Those who do not enter will display the fruit of the seed sown by the devil. That would be simply, a life separated from Christ. We are told that the tares are gathered up and burned. Verse 41, the angels sent by the Son of Man will remove from His kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness. Those who do not live according to the will of the Father commit lawlessness because they live by their own laws. Verse 42, they will be thrown into the furnace and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is not coincidental language. This is intentional imagery of hell. Those whose lives are of the devil. Those whose lives are not possessing the good seed of the Son of Man will be separated from God the Father for eternity in the lake of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Some people will tell you that the evil will be consumed by the fire, but the Word of God does not teach that. This is eternal torment created and reserved for the devil and his traitorous demons.
This is a clear warning. Jesus told this parable to the Jews. They were receiving a warning concerning their own destination. To receive the inheritance of eternal life in the presence of the Redeemer you must be born of the good seed.
The third truth we see this morning is the righteous will be radiant like the Son. This is the good news. Remember this is the end of the age. The angels who were sent by the Son of Man has removed the tares from the wheat and now the wheat are remaining and will be with the Son. Verse 43 says, “Then the righteous will shine forth as the SUN.” The imagery is perfect. Our radiance like Christ’s radiance will be brilliant, but think about it with this change, then the righteous will shine forth as the S-O-N. The Son of God. It is his righteousness that lives within those who are believers. In short, when we step into eternity belonging to the Son of God, the Son of Man, then our sanctification, the process of becoming holy, will be completed. Our justification will be known to all. The fact that we are saved will be made known to all by the fact that we enter the presence of our heavenly father. Does the radiance of the Son live in you? Do you possess the glorious brilliant beauty of Christ’s holiness? When the world sees who is saved and who is not are you the one that will enter eternal glory with the Son or are you still condemned to eternal torment?
What fruit is your life producing? Do you want to know if you have salvation, then look, are you producing the fruit of the Spirit or are you still producing the fruits of unrighteousness? Have you turned your life over to Christ seeking his forgiveness? What fruit are you demonstrating?
Do you display the fruit of the Lord?
Do you abhor the fruits of the devil?
Will you be radiant in the Lord’s holiness?
Paul has been telling us about our need to put off the old self and put on the new. In the last passage we looked at Paul called for us to put off some very specific attitudes and actions concerning the old self and explained why it was necessary for those to be put off. Here today in our passage we see Paul calling for us to put on the new self and how we can live in the new self.
We are commanded to imitate God. In verse 1 of chapter 5 Paul says, “Therefore.” That one word holds so much weight because it tells to look back at what was just said. Do not lie, do not be angry, do not give the devil an opportunity, do not steal, do not speak unwholesome talk, do not grieve the Holy Spirit, but be kind one to another. Therefore, Be imitators of God. Do as God does. Be as God is. Look like God. Your way of life should be of one imitating the Father. What about God are we to imitate? Are we to have our children killed saying it was for others salvation? Are we to go and tell a race of people to go and completely destroy a land and all of the people who live there? Are we to rain fire and destruction down on a people? Or are we to live holy as he is holy? Leviticus 11:45, “You shall be holy for I am holy.” How we live is dependent upon God’s character. God is the one guides our lives. He is the one who determines what the guidelines are.
What in our world should be avoided?
To what extent should we avoid the different media in our society?
What should our response be to the immorality within our culture?
How can we affect change in the lives of others?
How can we in our community reach those outside of the church with the gospel?
What are people looking for that they are not finding in the church?
Paul then states, “as beloved children” or “dearly loved children.” Children who are loved will most likely desire to imitate their parents. What son loved by his dad wouldn’t desire to be like his dad? Most everyone here at one point in their lives desired to do what their parents did for a living because of a profound respect for that parent. It is in that same attitude and mindset that we are to imitate our heavenly Father.
Christ is our demonstration of God’s love. Paul then tells us to walk in love. Love is the attribute of God that most affects our lives. His righteousness affects us because of that characteristic we are outside of God’s grace, but it is because of His love that we are saved. It is because of love extended to our children that they desire to imitate us. The word walk here calls for habitual action. How did Christ love us? How did He demonstrate that love? Through his giving of Himself He demonstrated His love. It was through His substitutionary sacrifice. What is significant about His sacrifice? It is a fulfillment of the requirements of the Law. He was our offering to God. Such as the grain offerings. He was our sacrifice such as the sacrificing of animals to atone for sins. In His death, Christ fulfilled both. He willingly gave of himself, an offering. He willingly shed his blood and died, a sacrifice. But the significance here is that both went up to the Lord as a fragrant aroma. What does that mean? What is significant about that term? His offering and sacrifice were pleasing to the Lord. They were acceptable.
Very briefly, the next few verses state, Immorality, impurity, or greed must not be named among the believers. Paul then goes on to say that those who live in this manner will not have inheritance in the
Do you desire to live in imitation of God in his holiness?
Do you desire to live in love as reflected in Christ’s love?
Do you strive to live in sacrificial love towards others?
William Wallace is one of the greatest heroes of the Scottish people. For us in the
In Mark 1:14-15, we see a summary of what is the
The first truth we see is the time is fulfilled. This is more than just Jesus came into his public ministry on the correct date, but this is the appointed time set by God the Father. This is more than Jesus was on schedule according to his appointment book, but this is the idea that all things have been put into place and now the time is right. This is like the commander of the military who knows the weakness of his enemy and he sits and waits for the opportune moment to inflict the greatest destruction upon the enemy by taking advantage of the weakness. This is God waiting patiently for all things to be ready and the world is such a state in more ways than one to have the gospel not only preached but preached widely and vastly. The time is fulfilled.
Do you realize that for us, God will bring his gospel to us at the opportune moment? It may be that we are down and out. We have attempted to be fulfilled through accomplishments at work. We are attempting to be fulfilled through awards and pats on the back from other people. It may be that we have seen some horrendous events in our own life or the life of a loved one. It may be that we are in the midst of a time of gross immorality and God is placing his holiness before us in comparison to our filth. God comes when we need to see him and when we are most primed for the gospel. It may be the beginning of God changing us but he gets in.
If the Lord waited until the time was most beneficial and the world was most ready for the Christ then we should be praying that God will work in the lives of the unbelieving of this community so that we when we come with the gospel they will be ready. We need to pray that God would make us sensitive to his leading in sharing the gospel so that when he presents an opportunity to us we would be ready for that moment. If the timing is essential then may we be submitted to his leadership in order to most effectively fulfill his kingdom work in this world.
The second truth that we see is the Kingdom is spiritual. Jesus says in verse 15, “and the
Think what it must have been like as a believer in the first two centuries. The gospel is spreading, the believers are at relative peace with the
Even in the midst of a pagan and immoral world, the gospel and the kingdom may be spread. What is your commitment? Are you working for a spiritual kingdom to be established? Are you committed to the spiritual work that God has called us to?
The third truth we see is the Kingdom requires faith. The time for the Kingdom has come. We are not waiting for it to come, but it is here. All has been fulfilled for the coming of the Kingdom, and the Kingdom is spiritual. Because the Kingdom has come when Jesus was here, but he did not lead a revolution against the Romans then we see that the Kingdom is spiritual. Well, if the Kingdom has come and it is spiritual, then how do you get in? How can I become a member or citizen of this Kingdom? It requires faith. There is not a single action that you can do to enter the Kingdom. Only faith will allow you in. I cannot do anything to get in? No, the cost is greater than anything you can afford or provide. God requires a perfect sacrifice and you are not now nor every will be perfect. Only Christ can provide a perfect sacrifice, and your response is faith and repentance. In verse 15, Christ calls us to repent and believe. Repentance is the sign in your life that you believe. It is a willful turning from the sinful life that you once lived. Believing is your faith that is required. If you do not come in faith then you have not come. The two are so intertwined it is impossible to separate them. Your faith draws you to God’s will which is righteousness and holiness. If you have faith you will desire to turn from sin and turn to God. Yes over time you might fall from this great life, but if you truly have faith then you are going to desire be like Christ and desire his will. Without faith it is impossible to please God. You must be pleasing to God in order to enter the Kingdom. Are you pleasing to God? Only through Christ can you become pleasing. Only through faith will you ever be able to please God.
He had grown-up in the
No one can serve two masters. He will hate the one or despise the other. Are you holding to old ties or citizenships? Are you holding to old ways or are you deeply searching to love your Savior more everyday? With the
· Are you in the Kingdom?
· Are you living with a spiritual perspective?
· Are you living with faith?
In the previous passage in Ephesians that we looked at, we saw that we are to put off the old self and put on the new. Here in our passage today we see some concrete examples of the old self that we must rid ourselves of. Paul has very clearly reminded the Ephesians of the marks of their sinful self and then he encourages them to pursue holiness by giving them reasons why they would want to put off the old self and put on the new. Paul gives 5 negative actions to be rid of and 5 reasons that we should avoid these actions and then a summary of what we should do.
First, speak the truth and lay aside falsehood. Paul wants them to lay aside falsehood. What does it do to you when someone clearly attempts to deceive you and you find out? Do you prefer that someone tell you the truth or what you want to hear? Do you prefer that someone tells you destructive lies? Is the nature of Christ truth or deception? Should the nature of the believer be truth or deception? Do we desire to win people with truth or whatever will gain their following? Are we seeking to bring people to the truth of Christ? Everything about the faith is truth. It is based in Christ who is the truth. It is based on work that took place in historical reality. What are the basics of the truth that is Christianity? Why should we seek to share the truth with people in evangelism? What is the reason that we should speak truth to one another? We are members of one body, if we deceive others within the body we are actually causing harm to ourselves. What should be our response when others deceive us intentionally or harm us intentionally? Forgiveness and grace.
Second, Paul says that we should not be angry. There are many ways to understand this verse. Some say the verse should be understood when you are angry do not sin. Others say that the verse should read do not sin in being angry. Paul is very clear that within anger there can be sin. Anger is an emotion that arises within us, but we can sin in how we demonstrate and respond to that anger. What is Paul saying when he says to not let the sun go down on your anger? Do not cherish it. The problem with anger is seen most clearly when the anger is allowed to fester and grow. When we sit there and love our anger. Have you ever had one of those moments when you just did not want to let go and forgive because you felt like you held power over that person? Anger is sinful. To be offended by someone’s actions is one thing to be angry and allow that to dominate your life is another. When we cherish our anger what are we allowing in our lives? We are allowing Satan a foothold. What does that mean? We have allowed him a platform from which to work in our lives. He has been allowed in and to divide the body through personal agendas rather than the mission of God. He has been allowed in and to divide the body among personal agendas rather than love for one another. Can we allow anger to remain among the body?
Third, Paul says that we should not steal. This could be anything from a believer robbing others of their money in order to avoid working or someone taking advantage of the believer’s generosity and living on that when they could work. This is an example of ill-gotten gain. Why is work important? What basis do we have to say that people should work rather than just gain from others? In Genesis, God gave Adam work to do before the fall. Work is a God-given blessing, but through sin it is now a curse. Through salvation and Christ, work can be a blessing of source of worship and devotion to Christ. Why should we work rather than merely receive from others? So that we have something to bless others.
Fourth, we should watch our speech. Paul specifically says, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth.” This is not an affirmation of unwholesome thoughts. We are to not speak or think unwholesome thoughts. To define the word unwholesome, it means, “worthless, rank, disgusting.” Anything that we say or think of someone that is not for edification is disgusting before our Lord. Anything that we say or think of someone that is not for their benefit is rank. It is filth and as pleasant to our Lord as the smell of old garbage is to us. How should we speak to others? What should be our motivation in what we say to other people? What should be our desire towards other believers especially? Paul says we should seek to speak to others in such a way that we will give grace to those who hear. The idea is that we give them pleasure from our words, our words profit them, or our words confer a favor upon them. Essentially, “that it may benefit the hearers.”
Fifth, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. This is a habitual action. This is the daily course of your life. What do you think this verse means or how it applies to us after looking at the context? If you allow the old self to continue to rule then you will be grieving the Holy Spirit. Why should we be concerned about the grieving of the Holy Spirit? What is so important about insuring that we maintain a proper relationship and communication with the Holy Spirit? He is the source of the security of our salvation. He is the one who is working in us to renew us and make us new in Christ.
Verse 31 Paul says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Basically, get rid of everything that will make you live in an irritable state and animosity toward other believers and that makes him to live in a harsh and uncharitable opinions of men and things. Then look at verse 32, be kind, or useful, or good, or benevolent to one another. Tenderhearted. Forgiving each other- exercise grace in freely forgiving. As God in Christ also has forgiven you- To show grace by providing undeserved help to someone unworthy of that help.
She was a career professional. Her life was perfectly balanced. Despite the swift rise of her career her family still maintained a very prominent position in her life and her children were still a priority. They received adequate attention and help with homework. She somehow managed to attend every major performance or game in the life of the kids. Her husband still knew her love for him and saw her intentionally giving him attention love and affection. One morning as she gathered her things for work she could not find her keys. They were not in her purse. They were not in her work bag. She began to look around for them, but they were nowhere to be seen. She hurried around the house looking for the keys. She glanced here. She glanced there. Nowhere to be seen. She began to panic as she knew if she didn’t hurry she would be stuck in traffic and then be late for work. Her managers were kind enough to allow her to come in later because she could so much so quickly but she did not want to be late. She had never been late. As she looked over the house again, she still could not find her keys. She was beginning to panic and pushed one pile of mail aside and moved a calendar aside. She moved everything on top of her dresser and still no keys. She was panicked. So she went outside to get some fresh air and rethink where they might be. She went back inside and the phone rang. She answered the phone only for it to only be a charitable organization asking for money. She became so distracted that she forgot that she was looking for her keys, she went and grabbed her purse and bag and then reached in the pocket of her coat she wore the day before and grabbed her keys and walked out the door.
Have you ever had one of those experiences? You are looking for something so hard that you just cannot think simply and see it right where you left it. God comes to us in many ways, but sometimes he comes in simple everyday means. Sometimes he is seen in the ordinary play of animals or children or the smile of a stranger. Sometimes in the midst of crisis the Lord is seeking to draw us to him, but sometimes in the ordinary days and going about our routines we find him clearly. As we look at Luke 24 we see the Lord appearing to his disciples and followers in a variety of circumstances.
First we see that we find Jesus in ordinary tasks. At the beginning of the chapter, we see some women, some followers of Jesus, and what are they doing? They are coming to his tomb to care for his body. In those days, they did not use sealed coffins the way that we do, nor did they bury the body in the ground, but they placed the bodies in a tomb. Over time, the body would decay, and at a set time they would return to the tomb and gather the bones and put them in a box. Here these women are returning to put spices on the body of Christ in order that it would not smell too bad as it decayed. Such an ordinary act. This occurred within every family. Here these ladies are approaching the borrowed tomb and suddenly two men stood near them in dazzling clothing. Add this on top of the fact that the body was already gone. Now this gospel does not tell us that they encountered Jesus but in other gospel accounts we know that they do see Him. In fact, in other gospel accounts, they think that he is just a gardener. In
Second we find Jesus in a burning heart. Now I am not talking about heartburn but a burning heart. You might have already experienced this. Now this is not the warm fuzzy feelings a very exciting moment. In verse 13, we see that the disciples that the ladies had announced that they had seen Jesus were heading their separate ways. There were two followers who were heading to a town named Emmaus. It was about like walking from Lottsburg down to Heathsville not a great distance but a decent walk. As they are walking Jesus appears and walks with them. About like driving down the interstate and just intentionally pace yourself with another car but in walking you can talk. He asks them, “Hey what’s up? What are you talking about?” And they look at each other, why won’t he mind his own business? What they really say is, “Have you had your head in a hole and don’t know what happened? It’s only been on CNN Live for the past three days! Even FoxNews and MSNBC have been carrying it. Front page news for the past three days. A great teacher that the people loved has been put to death. He was innocent!” Jesus says, what is this? They tell him, Look man, He was only a great teacher and he performed miracles we had never seen before. He was from God and the leaders had him killed! But we were hoping that he would redeem
Third we find Jesus in the flesh. Now you are thinking how can this be when he is no longer here? Look at the text, in verse 36 it says, while they were together and telling their encounters Jesus stood in their midst. My translation says, He Himself. In other words, let me emphasize, it was Jesus and no one else, It was his body that took up space in that room. Verse 37 says that they were startled and frightened because they thought they were seeing a spirit. So Jesus being the God that He is says, hey give me some of that fish. It is time for show and tell. Here are my hands. Look this scar right here is from when they drive the nails into my hands so I would stay on the cross. Oh and look, these scars in my feet, the soldiers did those too so that I would stay on the cross. Oh look right here, they put a spear in my side to insure that I was dead. They were pretty sure but that sealed it in their minds. Look at on my back those are from when they whipped me. Hey where is that fish? Watch this. He eats the fish and it stays in his body! A ghost would allow the fish to fall to the ground. I am real. I am alive. One day you can be like this as well. I have conquered death. I have fulfilled all that was required of me in the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. I am real. Have you ever had an encounter in life where it just seemed a little bit different? You knew there was something more to it than just ordinary life. Christ wants you to know him in life. In real life. Jesus is not just for church but for all of life. He wants to be there and make whole your hurts. He wants to be there and make whole your unfulfilled desires in life. He wants you to experience the fullness of life in this life. Some will tell you that Christ desires for you to be rich, but in reality, the fullness of Christ is a renewed heart and renewed focus on life. He wants you to see life from his perspective with his eyes.
The ordinary in life is real and important. Christ desires that our lives be conformed to his will. He wants us to be like him holy and righteous. As we close our time of worship today we are going to have an opportunity for you to respond to Christ. This is a time for all to respond to him. A time for us to submit ourselves to him.
Just three points to consider.
Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God?
Do you believe Jesus rose from the dead?
Do you live in holiness?
In this passage there are two main sections. The first being what not to do and the second being what to do. But all of this is in accordance with knowledge. Now the Bible tells us that knowledge puffs up, but what we know affects what we do. What we believe affects how we live. Our beliefs drive our lives whether we realize it or not. Paul is calling the Ephesians to walk according to righteousness and holiness.
In verse 17 Paul begins by saying I and the Lord want you to no longer walk as the Gentiles. How did the Gentiles walk? Well, at that point most of the Gentile world had yet to hear the gospel so most of them would walk apart from God’s will. At the end of verse 17, Paul says in the futility of their mind. What does this mean? This is more than just the intellectual aspect of their mind. This includes the emotional aspects of their lives as well. The futility of their mind is their understanding darkened, excluded from the life of God, possessing ignorance, and having hardness in their hearts. Their understanding and enlightenment is darkened. They are not able to understand or comprehend because there is no light in them. They are excluded from the life of God because they are ignorant. In many ways ignorance is a tragedy. For so many, ignorance is an insult. It means you are uneducated and therefore do not know the basics that everyone should know. They do not know the basics of attaining salvation and therefore their ignorance is keeping them from salvation. Finally, futility of their mind is because of the hardness of their hearts. What do you understand that phrase to mean? Often times, as believers we miss great opportunities to see God and serve God in mighty ways because we have hardened our hearts. Often times, we as believers “know” the will of God and what we want him to be like and His word to say that we miss what he is really saying because we already know what he is going to say. That is a hardness of the heart. In verse 19, because of all of this they have given themselves over to sensuality. Because they were without direction or a secure foundation they drifted away from the truth. They needed the truth. They were without it, and they are now the example of being lost and perverseness. Are we as believers living in this way? Are we allowing the Lord to lead us rather than living according to the compass of our own desires? One of the worst phrases I have ever heard is a response to this statement, “The Bible tells us. . . .” Here is the worst statement, “Yes, the Bible says that, but. . . .” The Bible should be our guide in all aspects of life. What we believe directs the way we walk.
Beginning in verse 20 we that we should walk in truth. Verse 20 says, but you did not learn Christ in this way. What I just said, you did not learn Christ in that way. You did not learn Christ in carnality or in futileness of the mind. Look at verse 21, my translation reads, “if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus.” Basically, you have not truly learned of Jesus if you have learned of him in the way I just described. Truth is in Jesus, and therefore, to learn of Jesus, he is not found in the things of this world. Verse 22 says, lay aside your old life. Well, pastor, I am a good person. I am sure you are but are you focused on Christ? No. Then lay aside your old self. Your old self is being corrupted with lusts of deceit. Verse 23, be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Be renewed in the seat of who you are. Your mind is the seat of who you are. Your mind is so intertwined with your spirit and emotions that if you are corrupted in your mind then you are corrupted in the spirit. Renew your mind through the Spirit and in your spirit. Verse 24 says, put on the new self. To put off and put on is an instruction to us. You who have been redeemed, regenerated do this. You have the Spirit so you can do it. Now do it. What is the new self? It is created in God. It is righteousness and holiness.
