The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E40 - The New Life

Episode Date: June 10, 2020

Hey, church family, it is Devo time. Grab your Bibles. We're going to be in Ephesians chapter 4. We're going to pick it up in verse 17. Let me give you a little overview of the book of Ephesians. So what Paul most often does, we've been talking about this kind of a lot. Here's another example of how identity precedes activity. What Paul does in most of the epistles, epistles is just a word that means an apostle wrote it. So when Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, he does this in Philippians, he does this in Philippians, he does, in Galatians is what he'll do is he starts off the first, basically in Ephesians, it's like the first half of his letter to the church at Ephesus is the gospel. In chapter one, it's like the gospel at a 30,000 foot view. Chapter two, he gets real personal one-on-one with you. It is by grace that we've been saved through faith, not of works. He talks about the mystery of the gospel in chapter three. and then he will shift in the middle of the book of Ephesians,

and now he will talk about how we should live based on the gospel infecting our lives. And so he talks about unity in the body of Christ, then he's going to talk about how to live at home and how to live at work, and then he's going to end Ephesians with an encouragement on spiritual warfare. So when we get to Ephesians chapter 4, verse, 17, you've got to know that in verse 17, the first word he says, now, now. All of that before the now is that what I am about to encourage you in the way you ought to live is based on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't miss this. This isn't just another set of law

of the things that we ought to be doing as good Christians, Paul would say there's no such thing as a good Christian. We were dead, now we're alive. But living people have a certain way that they act, like they breathe and they eat and they smile and they walk. That's what living people do. Dead people don't act like that. But if you went over to the dead guy

and you just started moving his arms and putting food in his mouth, that would not make him alive. That is not outside in. It is inside out. So when the gospel infects us, some symptoms of the gospel-infected life. 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. When he says Gentiles, he doesn't just mean people that are not Jewish. He means people that don't know Jesus. That's what he means. And he's like, now that you are a Christian,

a Jesus follower, the way you walk, when he says walk, he means live. Your lifestyle should be different than people that don't claim Jesus as their Lord. And the reason that they do that, the reason that they walk that way is because the futility of their minds. That we've got to change the way we think about things. They are darkened and their understanding alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. That the reason that their minds are, that their minds are,

are futile, the reason that they see the way they see this world and people and life, the way they see it, it's not just the mind problem for them, it's a heart problem. It's a heart problem. I was talking to a pastor friend of mine one time, and he went deep sea fishing,

and the engine on the boat broke, and then they went just drifting off to sea and had to, like, call in the Coast Guard to come and rescue them, and he said something very interesting. He said, He said, the reason that we were lost is because the boat was broken.

The boat wasn't broken because we were lost. You see the difference? In other words, until there's a heart change in the individual, of course they're going to have the mental worldview that they have. And so it's not just for the unbeliever, if we just give them enough facts, then things will change in their mind. but until God redeems and rescues their heart, of course they're going to see the world through their own eyes. He says they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality,

greedy to practice every kind of impurity, but that is not the way you learned Christ. In other words, if you were a believer in Jesus, your life should be holy. That doesn't mean perfect. It means set apart. That the way we live should be different. verse 21, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds. All right, let me talk about this for a second. One more verse, 24, and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God and in

true righteousness and holiness. That a part of the sanctification process, all right, the moment you trust Jesus, you are justified. Your sins have been paid for. And from that moment until the moment you die, you will be sanctified. It's just continual, put off the old and put on the new. Remember in John chapter 11, when Lazarus is brought out of the grave, what Jesus tells Lazarus after he comes out of the grave is take.

off those grave clothes. Why? Because dead people wear grave clothes and living people, wear living people clothes. And so as Christians, there's a whole set of our old behaviors that we take off because our identity has changed, therefore our activities should follow. So what are the things in your life that you continue to do that do not resemble you being a new creature in Jesus Christ? You see, that we are going to put on the righteousness of Christ. So we are going to put on the holiness of Christ, and we are going to take off our old identity because that old me is dead.

And when the enemy begins to whisper his lies of condemnation, then you just remind him, nah, man, that's the dead me, that's the old me. But in Christ, I am now righteous. I am right with God. I am holy. I am set apart by God. there's this old story of, I think it was St. Augustine. And he was a bit of a womanizer before he got saved.

And there was a particular woman that he would sleep around with in this city. And then he moves away, meets Christ, transformed by the gospel, gives his life to the Lord. He dies to his old ways. He dies to his old self. He's renewed in Christ. And then he goes back. to the city where this woman is, and one day he's walking down the street, and she notices him, and she says to him, it is I, it is I. And then he just ignores her. And then she comes up

to like, hey, bro, don't you remember, it is I. And then he looks at her and he goes, yes, man, but it is no longer I. In other words, I don't do the things I used to do because I'm another person I used to be. I have put off my old self and I have put on my new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness. Okay. So when we put on the new self, what does that look like? Verse 25. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Here's a good step. How about talk to people, not about people? Just because you have a social media platform does not mean that Matthew 18 does not apply anymore. Matthew 18 says, if somebody's sent against you, go talk directly to them.

that we should talk to people and not about people. Verse 26, he says, this is, again, this is what it looks like to put on the new self. Be angry and do not sin. In our current culture, no matter what you believe, there's something you're angry about. There is something you are angry about. And no matter what you believe, there's something that justifiably you are angry about. Sometimes we get angry about dumb stuff because we're selfish. There are things that we are justifiably angry about.

and the Bible says it's okay to be angry, just don't sin in your anger. Anger is great at alerting you as a feeling that something is wrong. Anger is a terrible decision maker. So be angry, but don't sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. That we should hold very short accounts. We should move towards reconciliation. We should move towards forgiveness.

Why? give no opportunity to the devil. The way I memorize this in NIV is don't give the devil a foothold. You see, when you are angry at something or you are angry at somebody, and you don't resolve that anger in the gospel, when you don't go and cancel that debt because your debt has been canceled by Christ, when you, like we talked about yesterday, when you meet that situation that you're angry at with stones of judgment

instead of the grace of the gospel, then what begins to happen, is you leave this little sliver in your heart for the devil himself, a foothold, to begin to just get in there, to just nudge his way in there a little bit. And over time, that foothold gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And that undelt with anger, that lack of reconciliation, that lack of offering forgiveness, though Christ has forgiven you, it leads to a bitter, bitter heart, and you become that angry kind of person. It says, be angry and do not sin.

Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Give no opportunity to the devil. 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. In other words, if you're in Christ, maybe before you met Jesus, you felt like you had to steal in order to eat. And he's saying, listen, I don't care what led to this point that you don't get to act

that way anymore because Jesus is your Lord. He says, not only should it change our behavior, it should change our mouths. The gospel changes the way we talk. Verse 29, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for the building up as fits the occasion that may give grace to those who hear. What if you use this as your filter for what you put on mine? No corrupting talk comes out of my mouth. What if you did that?

I'm not saying I do that. I'm saying the Lord is working on me in this too. And you say, yeah, but it's true. Nowhere in the Bible will you find just because something is true doesn't need to necessarily be said. I know truth sets us free, but when Jesus is talking about that in John 8, he says he is the truth.

It's like this, husbands. You get ready to go on a date with your wife, your wife walks out of the bathroom already, and she's like, does this dress make my butt look big? okay there is truth and there is what needs to be said just because it's a fact does not mean it needs to be said what needs to be said is what fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear

that it is good for building up Christians should be the kind of people that do speak truth in love through the filter of grace and building people up now you may need to sit down with somebody one-on-one, and what it means to build them up is saying, you are heading down a road that is going to kill you and defame the name of Jesus. That is building up, but you say that with grace and truth.

No corrupting talk comes out of your mouth. And don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with malice. Part of what it means to be sanctified as a Christian is, we are continually putting away things that don't look like Jesus in our life. Then he ends with this, and I would like to end with this. Church of 1122, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you.

How should we then act? Be angry, but don't sin. put away anger, watch your mouth, watch your hands, watch your action. There's this constant prayer. Search me, oh God, show me my blind spots. Search me, oh God, show me the places in my life that do not line up with who you have called me to be. Don't let me be ruled by my old self. Don't let me walk around with the stench of a dead man's clothes because I'm not dead anymore. I'm alive.

and when I come eyeball to eyeball with anybody, let me be kind, tender-hearted. And if that person has hurt me, let me forgive that person. Why? Because they deserve it? No, maybe not. But because I did not deserve it, and you were kind towards me. When I deserve, you know what justice is from God to me? Punishment, forever.

Forever. But instead of that, you know what I got from him? I got grace. got kindness. He was tenderhearted towards me and forgave me at great expense to himself. And as Christ has forgiven me, may I forgive you. And as Christ is tenderhearted towards me, may I be tenderhearted towards you. And as Christ is kind to me, may I be kind to you. Church, I think we have an incredible opportunity in our city with our friends and our neighborhoods. I think we have an incredible opportunity right now to display the love of Jesus in a world that wants to divide,

in a world that wants to criticize, and a world that wants to throw stones, that we have an incredible opportunity to put away anger and to put away malice and to put away dissent and to put away critical talk and to put away corrupting speech and to put on the love and grace of Jesus and treat people the way he has treated us. Father in heaven, Lord, I thank you that we do not get what we deserve, but we get you. For anyone who would believe, for anyone who would put their faith in you God,

I pray that the old me is dead, that I have been crucified with Christ, that the old me is nailed to a cross. my sin, my shame, the penalty of my sin, that when I said yes to you, all of that, the documents of condemnation that the enemy have against me, which are long, are now nailed to the cross with you. And it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And so, Lord, I pray that you would take your Holy Spirit and the power of your word like a

hammer and a chisel, and that you would chisel away all the things in us. All the hate and the rage and the malice and the corrupting talk, all the justifications of why we don't need to forgive, you would take the hammer and chisel of your spirit and your word, and you would chisel away everything in our lives that don't look like Jesus. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.