Posted by
aurorawatcher on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 6:51:33 PM
It probably has something to do with living in Alaska most of my growing up, but I hate to throw stuff away. In Alaska, there were higher costs associated with buying almost anything. It had to be shipped through a foreign country, after all. Maybe I just don’t pay that much attention when I’m in the Lower 48, but there seem to be an awful lot of garage sales here and many of us Alaskans have made careers out of “dumpster diving.” You find some good stuff if you have an eye for reusable junk!
Often when I find someone else’s “garbage”, I do not use it for its originally intended use; I adapt it to some other use. A rusted wheelbarrow in my front yard found new life as a planter. The bottom of an old solvent container is the base of our fire pit. My husband’s fish smoker is an old freezer.
God has done something similar with every Christian. When we were in our natural sinful state, we were fit for nothing but the trash heap because we were useless to God. When God saves us through the work of His Son, He transforms us into something entirely new. Through His Spirit working in us personally and through other members of the body of Christ, He equips us for serving Him. He gives us a new identity and a new function.
“Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more [literally, greedily].” Ephesians 4:17-19
Faith in Christ demands a radical change in the lifestyle of the believer from the way he once behaved. The words “no longer” indicate that Paul’s readers once lived in the way they are expected to reject now. Paul commanded that they cease living the way they used to live and instead live in a way that glorifies God. This command deals with the Christian’s new relationship to the world. Once, as a part of the world system, we were alienated from God -- strangers to His kingdom. Now, as those in Christ, we are citizens of God’s kingdom and members of His body, but we have become strangers and pilgrims to this world (Hebrews 11:13-16; 1 Peter 1:1; 2:11).
This command also deals with the Christian’s relationship to the culture in which we live. While the Ephesians saints once lived like Gentile heathen, their fellow-Ephesians still lived this way. This probably resulted in the persecution of Gentile saints, since their godliness posed a threat to the sinful ways of their peers (1 Peter 4:1-6). There was likely considerable pressure on the Gentile believers to continue to live as they used to. Paul did more than simply command his readers to cease living like unbelievers; he commanded them not to conduct themselves as their unbelieving Gentile peers. Gentile saints were a part of a Gentile culture and it was this culture that threatened to influence them to live as they formerly had. The “world” is, mostly, the culture in which we live and it seeks to pressure us to conform to its values, standards, goals, and conduct. The “world” which most influences us is the culture in which we have grown up. Christianity, Paul implied, often runs across the grain of our culture, and thus we must determine to follow Christ, ceasing to march to the drum of the world in which we live. Peer pressure, contrary to God’s will and His Word, is expected and should be rejected by Christians, so that we may walk worthy of the calling with which we have been called (4:1).
Paul maintained that the moral conduct of men is the outgrowth of his mental processes. The dominant thought here, as elsewhere in Ephesians, is that doctrine determines conduct. What we believe affects the way we behave. Francis Shaeffer was a student of philosophy, who noted that immorality was so rampant in western culture because it had been conceived by godless philosophers using colleges and universities as institutes of propaganda. Writing in the 70s and 80s, Shaeffer echoed Paul’s warning about the dangers of philosophy, which can be better understood in the light of his teaching on the relationship between fallen man’s reasoning and his conduct. The way a man thinks does bear heavily on his activities.
The pre-Christian conduct of the Ephesian saints was the outgrowth of wrong doctrine. Paul spoke of their impairment as the “futility of their thoughts.” Futility is not stupidity. Don’t mistake the two. Futile efforts are efforts which do not materialize into something worthwhile. Paul would not call Plato, Aristotle, or Socrates, Gentile men of brilliant intellect, stupid. They were futile because they failed to produce anything of lasting or eternal value. Paul inspected the foundations of human thinking which is the premise that the basis of our thoughts determine the results of our thinking. For example, the unbeliever (as a rule) thinks that life ends with death. Consequently, suffering is avoided and pleasure is pursued (1 Corinthians 15:32). The Christian believes that real life begins with faith in Christ and never ends. Because of this, suffering is joyfully (not necessarily happily) endured for Christ’s sake, with the assurance that we will eternally enjoy the glory which awaits us (2 Corinthians 4:13-18). The believer in Christ understands that he or she has been chosen for salvation for the purpose of bringing glory to God. Consequently, all that we do should be to His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). The unbeliever, epitomized by the writings of Ayn Rand, sees all of life revolving around his own personal interests; self-interest is always the focus and servanthood is viewed with contempt and considered only useful if it somehow promotes our own self-interest. Furthermore, the thinking of the believer is based upon the revelation of truth in the Scriptures, while the thinking of the unbeliever is based only upon the individual’s subjective perception of truth and reality. It is no wonder that the mind set on the flesh is vastly different from the mind set on the Spirit (Romans 8:5-9). A believer’s mind must be radically transformed (Romans 12:2).
After describing the mental condition of heathen Gentiles, Paul disclosed the causes of their mental dullness. Their thinking was futile because they were ignorant. Ignorance also does not refer to one’s intelligence or knowledge, but to the “knowledge” which unbelievers possess, that in which they place their trust, and from which they base their actions. It may be brilliant, but when compared with God’s truth, it is ignorance.
The mind of man and the heart of man are closely intertwined. When Paul wrote of the “hardness of their heart” he referred to the impact which the hardened heart has on the minds of fallen men. Hardness of heart keeps one from seeing things as they really are. This was true of Pharaoh, who could not see the “finger of God” in the plagues of the Exodus, even when his own servants pointed it out to him (Exodus 8:19). It was even true of the Lord’s disciples, who could not understand what He was teaching them (Mark 6:52; 8:17). The mental condition of fallen humans ultimately works itself out in the moral lives of these unbelievers. Men who are excluded from the life of God do not reflect the righteousness of God in their conduct. Thus Paul described the moral outcome of the Gentiles’ mental decadence: “They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.” (verse 19). Does this not describe the 21st century moral environment, when many people change sexual partners more often than they change clothing styles and believe that this is normal behavior?
Those who are mentally blind become morally callused. They lose any sensitivity to what is right or wrong. Consequently, they give themselves over to the pursuit of fleshly pleasure. 2 Timothy 3:1-4 warns that in the end times, things will be difficult, men will love themselves and money, they will become boastful, arrogant and mocking. Children will disobey their parents and become ungrateful. They will be marked by immorality, a lack of love, and malicious gossip. They will lack self-control, hate what is good, be treacherous, reckless and conceited and they will love pleasure rather than God. Such men are not just overcome by strong fleshly passions, they actively engage in the pursuit of these passions. Rather than dabble in sin, they immerse themselves in it, passionately pursuing the satisfaction of their fleshly appetites. They are greedy for fleshly pleasure, addicted to the pursuit of satisfying their fleshly urges.
“But that is not how you learned about the Messiah, assuming you heard Him and were taught by Him, because the truth is in Jesus,” Ephesians 4:20-21
Paul transitioned from the mental decay of the Gentiles to their moral decadence. He shifted his attention from the Christian’s obligation to resist and reject the ungodly pressures of the world system to their need to identify and resist internal temptation. Before pursuing this fully, Paul reminded his readers that he wasn’t teaching anything all that new, but rather reiterating what they had already learned. I believe Paul was referring to the Ephesians’ prior conversion experience, seeking to show the continuity between his teaching in this epistle and that which they had already received.
In this passage, Paul used some terms that might seem unconventional to 21st century peoples. “Learning Christ” is not typically the way one describes coming to Christ today. While we do use some Biblical terms like “born again”, we often use nonbiblical terms. For example, we talk of “inviting Christ into our lives,” which is both existential and self-oriented. We talk little of “learning” and we fail to see how closely doctrine and evangelism are related. Many Christians think “Let’s get them saved first and then we can teach them doctrine.” Paul assumed otherwise, perhaps because he was writing to folks who came to faith directly or indirectly through his ministry at Ephesus (Acts 19). Coming to Christ, as Paul believed and practiced, was not just an experience. It was an ongoing process of learning Christ.
Not so long ago, I read a statement by an Emergent leader, “I don’t worship doctrine, I worship Jesus.” Paul would never tolerate such mindless talk. How does one “learn Christ” without learning the doctrines which tell us who He is? Is Christ only a man, or is He also God? The difference is of great importance, and it is only from learning the doctrines of Christ in the Scriptures that we will find the answer.
How biblical is our evangelism compared to that which we find in the Scriptures? Many churches approach evangelizing like a sales presentation, seeking to get to the “bottom line” as quickly as possible. The goal is to get some kind of assent to trusting in Christ. When Jesus evangelized, He taught. Everywhere we find Jesus speaking in the gospels, He taught. It often took a considerable period of time for the truth He was teaching to be grasped, and this was only through the ministry of God’s Holy Spirit (Matthew 16:17). When Paul went to the synagogues, he taught from the Scriptures, demonstrating that Jesus was the promised Messiah (Acts 9:19-22; 13:5, 14).
As I understand Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:20-21, Paul assumed that those who have come to Christ have already learned much about Him, that they understand the nature of the Christian life which should result from trusting in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Suffering should come as no surprise, if our evangelism has been true to the teaching of God’s Word (Luke 9:23-26; Acts 14:22; 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12). There is no “small print” left out of our gospel which surprises after conversion.
There is a reason why faith in Christ and learning are closely related. This is explained in verse 21: “If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, …”
Jesus is not just a teacher; He is even more than the teacher. Jesus is the truth: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me’” (John 14:6). Jesus is the truth. To come to Him in faith is to come from death to life, from condemnation to justification, from sin to sanctification, and from ignorance to true wisdom. You cannot come to faith in Jesus Christ without changing your thinking. This is what true repentance is all about—changing your mind, and coming to see things as God does. Thus, it is completely natural that Paul would link evangelism with discipleship. Coming to Christ by faith is the result of learning about Him (Romans 10:13-17), just as it is also the beginning of learning.
The lifestyle which Paul set out as God’s standard for Christians should also not come as a surprise to any recent convert to Christianity. As radically different as it is from our former way of life, the Christian lifestyle is simply the outworking of the gospel which we should already have learned in coming to Christ. If, as may be the case today, some have not learned these general things of which Paul speaks in verses 17-24, then the gospel has not been fully or faithfully proclaimed.
“[Y]ou took off your former way of life, the old man that is corrupted by deceitful desires; you are being renewed [renew (as a command)] in the spirit of your minds; you put on (as a command) the new man, the one created according to God’s likeness [Col 3:10] in righteousness and purity of the truth.” Ephesians 4:22-24
In Ephesians 2, Paul described the unbeliever as being subject to the world, the flesh, and the devil. In most instances, the devil exercises control over lost men by means of the external pressure of the world and corresponding internal inclinations of the flesh. Paul instructed the Christian to turn from the corrupting influences of the world in which we live (our culture) and to “put off the old man” and put on the new. Being a writer, I love the metaphor that conjures – taking off the filthy robe of flesh and donning a clean robe of light.
Beginning in general terms, Paul explained that our fleshly behavior is an expression of our inner fleshly nature just as Christian conduct is the expression of the inner man, created and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Paul emphasized the continuity between our conversion to Christ and our conduct in Christ, which should be evident in our manner of life. In Ephesians 2, Paul had already explained that “in Christ,” our old man has been crucified. Daily, we should crucify our flesh and put aside conduct which springs from fleshly desires. “In Christ” we were made alive, raised from the dead and seated with Him in Heaven. We should therefore walk in newness of life, manifesting the work of the Spirit of God in and through us, for it is by His power that we are both motivated and enabled to live in a way that pleases God (Romans 8:1-4, 10-11)
It is almost impossible to overestimate the importance of the truths conveyed in the passage in this passage. Our commitment to the general exhortations found in verses 22-24 will greatly affect our compliance with the commands that follow. The Christian lifestyle will not be lived out by those with a pagan mindset. It is the Christian mindset as described in Ephesians 4 that works itself out in the conduct which befits our calling in Christ. Allow me to point out some of the inferences of Paul’s teaching in our text and its implications in our practical daily living.
Our pagan culture believes that the past is the key to the present. What we think and how we act, we are told, is the result of our past. It is only by understanding our past that we can live as we should in the present. In other words, the past controls the present.
The Bible reverses this. Paul taught us that our thinking and conduct in the past was the outworking of our unregenerate thinking. Paul insisted that we refuse to allow our past to control us in the present. Instead, Paul taught us that what we now are, in Christ, is what should override and overrule our past thinking and behavior. What we now are in Christ should cause us to put away what we once thought and did as unbelievers. Our past should not be resurrected, analyzed and dwelled upon, it should be buried in an unmarked grave. It is not what we were that matters, but what we are. Let us ponder what we are, in Christ, and not what we were without Him.
In our culture, what you believe seems to have taken second place to how you feel. The sensitive, intelligent, and probing thing to ask these days is, “How do you feel about that?” Paul would focus us on what we believe. What we feel is often a far cry from what is true, and even from what we believe. Faith, as I understand it, calls upon men to act on the truth God has revealed in His Word, not on how we feel. Abraham did not feel like leaving his homeland and relatives to go to an unnamed place, but he obeyed God. Neither did he feel like offering up his son, Isaac, but he was willing to obey. Jesus did not feel like going to the cross of Calvary, but He obeyed the will of His Father. Let us act on what we know to be the truth as revealed in the Word of God, more than on how we happen to feel. As a rule, faith acts on the facts of God’s Word and disregards our feelings.
If the renewing of our minds is so vital to our Christian life, how is it done? The Bible is not a book of formulas, but I would like to focus your attention on one key element: the Word of God. When a person wants to learn a foreign language, what is the most effective way to do so? It is to enter into that culture and language and become saturated with it. This is how our children learn to talk and to think as we do. If we would desire to have our minds renewed, then we must find God’s thoughts and immerse ourselves in them. His thoughts have been incarnated in Christ, the Living Word, and recorded in the Bible, His inspired written Word.
I observe that most Christians spend more time in front of their television sets, radios, magazines, and books than they do in their Bibles. Even many Christian stations and publications contain much that is secular thinking sprinkled with a smattering of spiritual jargon. If we would think God’s thoughts after Him, we will find them only in His Word. Let us become so saturated with His Word that we begin to reflect His ways, His values, His goals, His methods. This is the renewing of the mind which Paul called for.