LIVING AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT Ephesians 4:17-24 PURITY

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1 1 LIVING AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT Ephesians 4:17-24 The Bible was written to be obeyed and not merely to be read or studied. We are to be doers of the Word and not hearers only (Jas. 1:22). This is why we have words like therefore, wherefore or So I tell you this in this second half of Ephesians (4:1,17,25; 5:1,7,14,17,24). This is also true of the other letters of Paul. He begins his epistles by telling us who we are in Christ and what He has done for us and then emphasizes the fact that such truth should be our motivation for living lives that please Him, that is, living as children of light. PURITY Paul has just discussed unity and maturity as twin goals for the church, which God has brought into existence through the death of Christ. He now goes on to show that purity is also essential among those who belong to Him. He says: So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking (Eph. 4:17). Notice that Paul begins by being very emphatic about what he says: So I tell you this, and insist on it. Thinking What does Paul insist on? That the believers at Ephesus no longer live as the Gentiles do. And how do the Gentiles live? In the futility of their thinking. Paul addresses the issue of purity by first referring to the mind. As Solomon points out in Proverbs 23:7: As a person thinks, so is he. Just as we are what we eat physically, so we are what we think morally and spiritually. Futile, Vain, Empty And Paul points out that the Gentiles thinking became vain, empty. Our world possesses a great deal of knowledge without much wisdom. As Thoreau put it: We have improved means to unimproved ends. Yet natural man takes great pride in his learning. Paul put it well: Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools (Rom. 1:22).

2 2 Blinded by Satan It is not surprising since Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers: And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake. For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (II Cor. 4:3-6) What we think is so critical because our thoughts eventually manifest themselves in our conduct. This is why our thinking is so crucial. Right thinking leads to right living and wrong thinking leads to wrong living. And what Paul says here is that life without God is intellectually frustrating, useless and meaningless. Solomon similarly said: Meaningless, Meaningless! says the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless (Eccles. 1:2). This key term occurs about 35 times in the book of Ecclesiastes and only once elsewhere (Job 27:12). The basic thrust of Ecclesiastes is that all life is meaningless, useless, hollow, futile and vain if it is not rightly related to God. Only when based on God and His Word is life worthwhile. Solomon continues in this book to show that whatever man undertakes apart from God ends in frustration. Human effort apart from God proves to be without benefit or purpose. It is no wonder that salvation begins with repentance, which is a change of mind. When we experience the new birth our whole outlook changes. Darkened Understanding & Ignorance They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. (Eph. 4:18)

3 3 Evolution Paul continues to emphasize the idea of a futile thought life by referring to the understanding that is darkened and ignorance due to hardened hearts. This means that they cannot think straight about moral and spiritual matters. How else do you explain belief in evolution, the belief that is the basis of our entire educational system. In the January 4, 2008 issue of USA TODAY we have a headline: Science academy releases evolution book. It states the following: The National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine will hold a public briefing in Washington today on its new book, Science, Evolution and Creationism. The academy says the book provides information about recent advances that have yielded important evidence for evolution, reinforcing its role as the central organizing principle of modern biology. 1 (Emphasis added) Evolution is the sacred belief that this world is the product of chance that the cosmos came from nothing and was thus self-created that the personal evolves from the impersonal, human beings from things C. S. Lewis wrote: I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it but because I see everything by it. 2 Relativism How else can you account for the outlandish belief in relativism if it were not for darkened understanding? How else could someone believe that there are no absolutes. If so, why do they object to rapists, child abusers, terrorists or serial killers? If there are no absolutes, how can anyone ever say anything is wrong or evil? Such thinking is not only evil, but it is also plain stupid. Is it any wonder that intellectual, moral and spiritual chaos reign! MORAL UNRESPONSIVENESS Then Paul mentions moral unresponsiveness by stating that their hearts are hardened. His hard heart enslaves him. Is it any wonder that Paul accuses the Gentiles of having given themselves over to a sinful kind of life? Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more (Eph. 4:19).

4 4 Although it states here that the Gentile have given themselves over to sensuality, in Romans 1:24,26,28 it says that God gave them over to that life. Just as Pharaoh s heart was first hardened by himself and then hardened by God in response to his stubbornness, so God did the same thing with the Gentiles living in Rome. He allowed their own sin to implode. Self-indulgence is nothing new! And Paul points out that self-indulgence finds no satisfaction. It always leads to a continual lust for more. Like salt-water, the more we drink, the thirstier we get and the more we indulge in lust, the more we become addicted and thus enslaved by it. Corruption and destruction are inseparably associated together. The one naturally follows the other. In contrast, Paul states emphatically, KNOW CHRIST You, however, did not come to know Christ that way (Eph. 4:20). Notice that Paul does not say they had not come to know about Christ, but had not come to know Christ. This refers to a personal encounter and relationship with Christ. We can know about Christ, as we may know about other people, but that does not mean that we know them or Christ personally. Furthermore, to know Christ is to hate and thus shun evil. We cannot have it both ways. We cannot indulge in the things of this world and expect to grow spiritually. Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus (Eph. 4:21). It is vital that we hear and are taught those things that are in accordance with the truth about Christ. It is the Bible, and only the Bible, that is a revelation of who God is and what He has done. Therefore, the better we know the Scriptures the better we will know who Christ is and what He has done. Jesus made His own identity the measure of whether or not a person will enter the kingdom of heaven. He put it this way: I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the One I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins (Jn. 8:24). There are four thousand cults that claim to believe in Jesus and to follow Him, and yet teach doctrines about Christ that are contrary to who He is and what He did. If we are to know Christ, we must know the Christ of which the Scriptures testify (Jn. 5:39).

5 5 PUT OFF OLD SELF You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds (Eph. 4:22,23). Paul reminds these believers at Ephesus that they had been taught to put off [the] old self. Old self means the kind of persons these Ephesian believers used to be. Notice that the old life-style resulted from deceitful desires. Paul contrasts the new life with the old life in II Corinthians and Galatians as well: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (II Cor. 5:17). I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal. 2:20). PUT ON NEW SELF Then Paul talks about the new self that is created. This probably refers to the kind of person God produces in the new believer. This is a new way of life that one not only puts on positionally at conversion, but is also urged to put on experientially as a Christian (Rom. 6:12,13).... and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24). Being like God is the opposite of self-righteousness. It is true righteousness. While self or false righteousness is motivated by pride spiritual pride true righteousness is motivated by humility. The word righteousness refers positional righteousness--our right standing with God (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11) and experiential righteousness--doing what is right (I Jn. 3:7). In this context it probably means primarily doing what is right, that is, doing what is right in relation to man. While righteousness is primarily in relation to fellow man, holiness is in relation to God. It means to be set apart for God. This is in stark contrast to the Gentiles, who were indulging their every appetite with the things that emanate from the world such as sensuality, lust, etc. God s image, which was marred with the fall of the first Adam, is restored with the second Adam Christ (II Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15,16; Heb. 1:3). What was lost in the Garden of Eden was restored in the Garden of Gethsemane.

6 6 APPLICATION I believe Romans 6:11-13 captures the message of this passage of Ephesians 4 (17-24) with the words: In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. This is a call for the Christian to become in experience what he already is in position dead to sin and alive to God (Rom. 6:8-10). This means that there are at least three steps toward the Christian s victory over sin: 1. To count ourselves to live in the light of the truth that we are--dead to sin and alive to God (Rom 6:11). This means to have an attitude that does not give in to sin but is fully alive to God. 2. To refuse to let sin reign in our life (Rom. 6:12). In this particular passage Paul emphasizes not letting immorality and sensuality reign in our lives, but it can be anything. Only God deserves to reign in our lives. Anything less is idolatry. 3. To offer ourselves to God (Rom. 6:13). This means not holding onto secret corners of our minds and hearts where we relish things that are not of God. 1 USA TODAY (January 4, 2008), 3 A. 2 Bryan Patterson, A skeptic s beautiful ride. Faith Works Blog, 1 of 1. heraldsun.com.au

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