Ephesians 4 : 17-28
Time For a Change.
You probably know the old saying “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” and what it means? It is an encouragement to conform to whatever social situation you find yourself in and to do as everyone else is doing. If you are among sophisticated people, act sophisticated, if you amongst fools, act foolish. Regardless of the situation, you are encouraged to fit in, not to stand out, to be like everybody else. In human terms, this isn’t necessarily bad advice, but spiritually, conformity to the world’s ways is fatal. Paul is very clear as we get into the next section of Ephesians. It’s why he said in verse 17 “You must no longer live as the Gentiles do”. The Ephesians were Gentiles and had lived with other Gentiles in the past, however they were called out of that life and are now called into the life of discipleship and holiness by Christ. They were to be in the world - just as we are today - but not of it.
Paul changes the theme in Ephesians 4:17 and it is a theme that he carries through to the end of the book. In the first three chapters, Paul talks of the nature and origins of the Christian’s salvation, showing that it flows from the grace of God and has its goal in the revelation of the manifold great wisdom of God in and through the Church. Then the rest of the book applies these doctrines to the life of the Christian, whilst still in the secular world. Or in other words, Paul tells us to be one holy Church, he’s just told us how to be one, now he instructs us on how to be holy.
This is an extremely important point. Christians are to live holy lives, not just because morality is good in itself, or because it promotes happiness or success or anything else, but because of what God has done. Because of Gods action towards us through Jesus Christ, we should live our lives as God wants us to live.
Paul reminds the Ephesians of some very important truths, firstly, the true nature of the world view that they have been delivered from and the reasons it got to be that way in the first place. So far as the nature of the present world system, Paul describes it as the “futility of their thinking, they are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of their ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts”.
What is wrong with the world in which the Ephesians (and all other Christians) find themselves is that it has hardened itself against God. The One who is the Christian’s joy and glory is the worlds enemy. So we are not on the same team as the world, we do not have the same goals or loyalties. If we are going to get on with anything like the life we are called to have, we need to see that. We should never think to ourselves at any time as “in Rome...”
Jesus, the Great Divide.
Have you ever thought about how we register time. I’m not talking of the hours around a clock but rather how we register the years. The Christian calendar begins with an approximation of the year of the birth of Jesus Christ, then we number in two directions, backwards in a receding series of years which we call BC, and forward in an increasing number which we call AD. By this reckoning we testify that Jesus of Nazareth is the dividing line in history.
Jesus is the great divide in more than a historical sense, He is also a personal dividing line for everyone who has been saved by him. As the Gentile becomes the Christian, they acknowledge that they had their life before Christ and now they have their life with Christ. Paul describes what the world is like, being without Christ, he then states that it was “not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus”. This is Paul’s introduction to what is going to be an extensive description of the Christian life. So it is important to note that it begins with reference to Christ himself and nothing that may have come out of the depraved hearts or futile efforts of mere human beings. There are several belief systems that promote “self discovery” or “personal enlightenment”. Real changes comes in none of these ways. The only truly transforming power that has ever come into the world is that of the person and teaching of Jesus Christ.
The School of Jesus.
The way Paul begins to explain this further is to use three ideas that would be commonly used in education.
Paul writes in vv. 20 -22 that we heard about Christ, we learned of him and we learn through him. In this passage Christ is the subject of the lesson. To an extent this would be learning about the man Jesus, where he was born, where he grew up, his occupation, perhaps even when we learn about his teaching. But more importantly, Paul means that when we come into a relationship with Jesus, that is when we come to really know him, because that relationship affects you, you want to live your life in accordance with Jesus’ teaching. To just learn about the man Jesus of Nazareth wouldn’t necessarily make you a Christian, just as reading about Neil Armstrong wouldn’t make you an astronaut.
So as we learn about Jesus, we come to “know” Jesus personally, then we are taught in him. The puzzling word about this last expression is “in Him”, you would normally expect the phrase to be “by Him” or “about Him”. But it actually says “in Him” and it probably means that Jesus is the atmosphere within which the teaching takes place. We might say that that Jesus is the school, as well as the teacher, as well was the subject.
When we learn about Christ in this way, as Paul describes, we take off our old selves, we should abandon our old lives which were “corrupted by deceitful desires”. When a person hears about Jesus, comes to know Jesus and lives in Jesus, they are compelled and strive to “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”
Time For a Change.
Paul now begins to deal with Christ’s conduct, the practical application of the great doctrinal teachings declared in the first three chapters. Paul reminds believers what they were before God saved them. He then reminds them that that in spite of their dark history, they nevertheless have been saved by God and have come to know Jesus Christ. But what is this new way that is In Christ, How do we walk it?
Paul goes on to give five examples at the end of chapter four. We are going to look at the first thee in this session. Before we look at these three though, it is worth considering how Paul gives the examples. Most of them are given both negatively and then positively, just as Paul instructed to “put off our old self” (v. 22) and to “put on our new self” (v. 24). Another way to think of that is is to consider that we, like Lazarus, have been brought out of death and into life by Christ. As part of that spiritual miracle our old, tattered, ruined grave clothes have been taken off and we have been dressed in wedding garments in preparation for that great wedding supper of the Lamb. From this point onwards we should act like members of the wedding party.
1 : Put off falsehood and speak truthfully (v.25) In addition to the relatively simple instruction of “don’t lie and be honest”. The Greek word translated into “falsehood” is actually to pseudos which means ‘the lie’. This is also the word that John uses uses in 1 John 2:20-23 when he talks of the antichrist. When Paul wrote Ephesians, he could well have meant, to put off the lie and tell people the truth. That is, he is telling the Ephesians who had turned their back on false idols, false gods or satan, to speak of Jesus, who is the “truth” - John 14:16.
2: Put off anger (vv. 26-27) This is slightly different to the other examples as Paul doesn’t give an expressed positive side. This is because anger itself is not a sin, but Paul tells us not to sin in our anger. Scores of Old Testament passages speak of the anger of God against the wicked and even his own people when they persist in disobedience. Indeed Jesus himself was angry on occasion (Matt.21:12-13; Mark 3:5) and even we can experience righteous anger. That is why Paul introduces this subject by saying “in your anger do not sin” which makes a distinction between sinful and sinless wrath. What Paul does tell us is to deal with the anger quickly, or to be precise, by the end of the day. He instructs us to not let anger get a foothold, do not let it fester and swell, this allows the devil to get a foothold. The only thing to do is to confess the anger to God and root it out as rapidly as possible.
In the case of righteous anger we should be “slow to become angry” (James 1:19) If we heeded this, we should be angry far less than often than we are.
3 : Put off stealing and work for a living (v.28) Each of these instructions are linked in one way or another to the Ten Commandments, but in this case, Paul is being explicit. The eighth commandments says “You shall not steal” - this is exactly Paul’s command. There are of course many different ways that we can steal.
We can steal from God when we fail to worship him as we ought or when we set out our own interests before his interests. We steal from him we fail to honour him by living our lives as he calls us to or we fail to tell others of his love. We steal from employers when we do not give our best work or we waste time. We steal by borrowing and not repaying. We steal from ourselves when we waste the time, talents or resources God has entrusted to us. The list goes on, but what Paul has chiefly in mind is taking things or money that do not belong to us. Paul’s instruction here is to instead, do “something useful” with our own hands.
Here is a big difference between Christians and the secular world. The world will tell you to “do something useful” with your own hands, to make yourself lots of money so you can buy lots of nice things and feel good about yourself. Paul says you should work rather “[because you will then] have something to share with those in need”. There will always be those people who, through no fault of their own, genuinely have needs. Who is there to help such people? Paul states the poor must be helped by Christian people who work hard precisely so they will have something to give to those in need.
Questions.
These are not necessarily questions that need answers, they are rather to be used as conversation starters.
1 : What are some the actions of living as the world lives? Why is it so important for Christians to no longer live as the world lives?
2 : When we turn to Christ, the Holy Spirit changes us, can you think of examples of how you have changed since becoming a Christian? Or if you have been a Christian a long time, how you have continued to change?
3: How is living, or wanting, after the things of this world clouding out judgement, and alienate us from he life God has for us?
4 : Have you ever become “numb” to the things of God? How did you recognise that is what had happened? How did you deal with it?
5 : What effect does speaking truthfully to fellow Christians have on our lives, and the recipient of that truth? Is it difficult to speak the truth at times? Why?
6 : Can you think of a time you have been truthful with a fellow Christian? How did you start the conversation? Does it matter in the way that you are truthful?
7 : Can you think of a time when speaking the truth has caused a disruption within the Church? Why would that happen? What can be done to avoid the resulting dis-unity?
8 : Think of the last time you were angry, was it justified? Would Jesus have become angry about the same thing? Would he have acted differently?