THE CHURCH—GOD’S NEW SOCIETY
Living the New Life
Ephesians 4:17-24
Jerry A Collins
SCC
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Why is an
unbeliever unable to discern spiritually?
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What is it
that prevents an unbeliever from faith?
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How is a
believer’s walk contrasted with unbelievers?
When
Adam walked out of the garden he had a spiritual nature, which God breathed
into him at his creation. But it was stained by the fall to the extent that, in
both the Old and New Testaments display and teach that we now have a nature
perverted by sin, making it defiled, incurable, and darkened by sin’s
blindness. So we now possess a spiritual nature that makes us unacceptable to a
holy God and always polluted by evil. This is what the NT calls the ‘natural
man’ and all of us, believers and unbelievers, have
this same nature, which Adam walked out of the garden with. Our passage
describes the condition of this nature, one that believers are still capable of
walking in. But now that our name has changed; now that
our position has changed; now our behavior must change; our thinking must
change; and our lifestyle must be changed. It will no longer due for us to walk
by means of that nature We were born with—the same one
Adam walked out of the garden with!
A DISTINCTIVE CHRISTIAN LIFESTYLE
AVOIDS THE SPIRITUALLY SELF-CENTERED BEHAVIOR OF UNBELIEVERS
We
are being told that we must not walk as the Gentiles—unbeliever walk. The
reason has to do with their way of thinking. That thinking is described here.
The world’s problem is a mental problem. This description comes in the form of
a warning implying that as believers we can continue to display unbelieving
behavior because we are still capable of seeing the world in terms of our
nature we were born with.
A Note of Urgency
Affirming
that the following is from the Lord, this is something we must pay attention
to. Like taking someone’s chin in your hand and forcing them to look you in the
eye.
Stop
living as if you have no purpose 17b The word
‘walk’ is figurative for a ‘way of life’. So stop conducting your life this
way. It is a futile or empty or purposeless kind of thinking that engenders a
similar kind of life. Mentally, morally and spiritually t his is how it is for
unbelievers. They have no reason to look any further than the end of their
nose! Apart from God that is all they have to look at. They cannot comprehend
value and purpose without God’s revelation to enlighten and guide them. But
they want no part of that. The natural tendency we have with our natural spirit
is to think our way away form God. Intellectual pride, denials, skepticism,
unbelief—I can determine what is in my best interest; alternatives and
deceptions are latched onto and preferred, to belief in the gospel. This
thinking is incompatible with a believers new position
before God in Christ. And why do unbelievers have no purpose for a way of Life?
4 reasons:
1. They just never ‘get it’, being
darkened in their understanding. They are in a perpetual state of spiritual
ignorance. The truth is a vanishing act with them. They have no understanding
in to the true nature of things. We can see evidence of this in the unbelievers
thinking and rationale. They have alternatives to creation, sexuality,
morality, economics, spirituality, character and life after death. Left to
their own devices they will never be brought to the truth.
2. They are alienated form the life
of God, excluded for the life of God. They are estranged form God and as
such cannot tap into the wisdom, understanding, insight and perspective that
kind of relationship does provide. They are out there on there own incapable of
direction and living a paradigm that only condemns them further. They are lost
‘puppies’. Can you as a believer imagine living your life with any kind of purpose
without a relationship with God?
3. They choose to be purposefully
ignorant, because of the ignorance that is within them. Ignorance about the person of Christ forms the
basis of their sinful lifestyles. The Jews ignorance about the person of Christ
is the basis of their crucifixion of Christ (Acts
4. They have hard hearts, because of
the hardness of their hearts. The
center and source of the whole life, the heart, is hardened—spiritually and
mentally. This becomes the ground out of which they set their priorities, make
their decisions, follow their ambitions, determine their morality, and pursue
their lifestyle. It is a dangerous place to be and stay because of the
consequences this purposeless life produces. These consequences compound the
dilemma of the futility of an unbelieving mindset and lifestyle. First, their moral insensitivity (Callous)
motivates them to be sensual 19a. This is a consequence of a purposeless
life. They are giving themselves to a lifestyle immortal license. This is what
Paul means when He says in Romans 1, and
God gave them over in the lusts if their hearts to impurity. Judgment comes
in the form of letting you have what you want. This is why sensuality is so
prevalent in the world. It is evidence of having no purpose.
Second, their moral insensitivity
demands more sensuality 19b. They
honor a life without personal standards or social sanctions. Everything is ‘a
go’ with them. Unrestrained and indulgent they cry out for more and more of it.
Anything goes kicking out the props holding up a moral society. A vicious cycle of personal lust to have more. And this has
been building steam since the garden. It proliferates in each succeeding
generation of unbelievers until it will implode. The greed of personal interest
makes them fight amongst themselves injuring and provoking one another until
someone wins and someone else loses. This way of thinking and life must never
ever characterize us.
A
DISTINCTIVE XIAN LIFESTYLE REFLECTS THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JESUS
First, we did not learn
Christ this way 20. 1. There is
relief because that list is a deadly one. 2. There is gratitude
for what God has delivered me from. 3. There is hope for I now understand the
truth about life. 4. There is a shift in the way I live my life now. Jesus
radically altered my life and changed everything.
Second, Jesus showed us the proper way to live 21. He came
from heaven with a heavenly message, perspective, priority, and thinking. He
told us how they think in heaven and He showed us that life. It has no
similarity to that on earth. This is how we disciple people with a heavenly
perspective for life here.
Third, avoid an unbelieving lifestyle 22-24.
1. That
is what you used to be but everything about you has changed 22a. A lifestyle
consistent with an unbelievers is inconsistent with who you really are now in
Christ. That old self was put off like you do clothes.
2. We are being transformed
continually 23. Only the Spirit of God can ultimately change our lives. This is
a repeated and continual process by the Spirit to conform us to the image of
Jesus Christ not like our former manner of life.
3. We have put on a new person
24. This occurred when we laid aside the old one when we believed. The new
growth associated with this new person is not sensuality, greediness, or
purposelessness, but righteousness and holiness based on truth. As new persons
we have a new kind of life, which is spelled out, in the next section.
APPLICATION
1. We are still capable of
living according to the futility of an unbelieving mind with it’s
consequences.
2. The lost are lost not because
of abuse, or bad environments, or lack of opportunities to better themselves
but by hard hearts.
3. The process of spiritual
progress is choosing to keep putting on the character of our new person.