Changes

Change.  Change is a word that when heard:

• Makes your heart beat faster.
• Provokes an uneasy feeling that disturbs the soul.
• Causes you to try and avoid it.

For most people, change is an event to be feared.  Yet, as we will see in our Scripture passage today, change is actually a description of the Christian life.  God wants you to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).  He wants you to be not what you were and not what you are -- He wants you to become like Christ.

Now God is not expecting you to walk on water or miraculously heal the sick.  Our LORD Jesus Christ does a fine job of that on His own.  But He does want you to pursue righteousness and holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1) -- in so doing you will become like Jesus Christ.  You and I can never achieve perfection or godhood but we are called to follow and be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ, our LORD and Savior.

Is this too hard for you?  Of course it is.  But with God's help, you can become the Christian He wants you to be.  Since God knows everything, you can become the Christian He knows that you can be.

Scripture Passage:
Ephesians 4:17-32

Main Point:
God has called us to a life of change with the goal of becoming like Christ in our life of faith.  He has even defined the process whereby you can change with His help.

Outline:

1. Because you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, stop living as though you do not know Him.
2. Because you have a learning relastionship with Jesus Christ, apply yourself to godly changes that make you more like Christ.
3. Because you have a kingdom relationship with Jesus Christ, live by His kingdom values here on Earth.

1. Because you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, stop living as though you do not know Him.

17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. (Ephesians 4:17-19, NKJV)

If you are married, it is hard to remember how life was when you were single.  But when you are single, you basically do what you want to do when you want to do it.  You come and go as you please.  You have no responsibilities to anyone in your home.

Does life change when you get married?  Yes, indeed!  When you enter into a marriage relationship, you enter into a life of intertwining your life around your LORD and your mate.  As the Bible says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24, NKJV).  Since your mate is part of your life, you begin to live differently than when you were single.  It simply does not work to live an independent life when you have a personal relationship with someone through holy marriage.

It is the same issue when you ask the LORD Jesus Christ to be your Savior from sin.  After committing yourself to Him, you enter into a personal relationship with Him for time and eternity.  Eternal life is not just in Heaven.  Jesus prayed for all who would believe in Him: "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3, NKJV).  This personal relationship even pictured as a bridegroom (Jesus Christ) and His bride -- everyone who believes in Him (Matthew 9:15; 25:1-13; Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35; John 3:28-29; Rev. 21:2-3,9-10):

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31-32, NKJV)

Jesus knows you intimately when you seek His forgiveness and Lordship.  If you know Him, you simply can not live as though you do not.

This is, in fact, how unbelievers live.  In verse 17, the Bible says, "you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk" (Ephesians 4:17, NKJV).  The term "walk" refers to the conduct of your life -- how you live your life.  The use of "Gentiles" is in the moral sense -- those without God -- rather than a reference to non-Jews.  So the Bible is referring to unbelievers.  When you have not Christ in the center of your life, how do you live?

• Futility of mind (v17): The Greek word translated "futility" refers to that which is void of useful aim or goal. Without Christ, you have no purpose in life, no goals, and no meaning.  With Christ, you have the one purpose in life to glorify Him in all that you do.
• Darkened understanding (v18): You cannot see clearly in the dark.  Without Christ, you cannot see life in this world as God sees it, nor can you see your own life as God sees it.  His truth and principles for understanding yourself and the world are replaced by earthly reason and self-justification.
• Alienated from the life of God (v18): Without Christ you cannot experience the love of God (see Ephesians 2:12).  As the saying goes, you "look for love in all the wrong places" instead.
• Ignorant (v18): Without Christ, you do not have or know the "Word of Life" (1 John 1:1, NKJV).  How can you hope to live a righteous life without the Word of God?
• Blindness of heart (v18): Without Christ long enough, your heart will become blinded -- unable to see that God's word is true, much less how it applies to your life.  You will become hard-hearted toward spiritual matters and see only yourself.  You will be blind to the needs of others and serve yourself only.
• Past feelings (v19): This refers to a seared conscience.  Right and wrong are whatever you determine them to be without Christ.  When you have no feelings of conviction over sin, anything goes and you feel no shame.
• Given over to lewdness, uncleanness, greediness (v19): Without Christ, you will give yourself over to whatever gives you temporary satisfaction.  You will eventually become a pervert -- perverted in your thinking, your words, and your deeds.

The Bible tells us to no longer live this way!  Each of us has lived this way in the past to one degree or another.  But no more can we do so.  Having entrusted our lives to the LORD Jesus Christ, we have experienced "new birth into a living hope" (1 Peter 1:3, NIV).  The old life is ... old, gone, past, irrelevant to you today.  As the Bible says:

9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor £homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, NKJV)

You were washed by the blood of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for you!  Your sins have been cleansed.  You have been sanctified -- set apart from sin and toward righteousness.  You have been justified -- declared holy and blameless before God forever in Christ!

Never take the white robe of righteousness and roll around in the soil of the world!  No longer live the way the world lives without Christ.  Knowing Christ, live your life for Him!
 

2. Because you have a learning relastionship with Jesus Christ, apply yourself to godly changes that make you more like Christ.

20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20-24, NKJV)

A disciple of Christ is a learner, one who follows Christ.  In the first century, people would gather around a teacher and literally go wherever the teacher went.  Their learning was "hands-on" as the teacher worked and instructed the disciples to do the same work.  Here is what the Bible says about a disciple of Christ:

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. (Luke 9:23, NKJV)

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NKJV)

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29, NKJV)

So in Christ we have a learning relationship that lasts a lifetime and into eternity.  From the previous Scripture passage (Ephesians 4:17-19), we know why we need to change:  no longer live as those without Christ live.  But how can we change?  Frequently we hear (or think):

• "I want to be good but I cannot"
• "I want to be like Christ but I am not"
• "I'm just an old sinner saved by grace"

Listen to this very important point: Change happens as an act of faith ... both for salvation and for sanctification. Sanctification means the daily process by which God works to make you more like Jesus.  You become more like Jesus as you walk by faith in Him, not according to the perspective of the world but by God's perspective (2 Corinthians 5:7).  As long as you are in the flesh, you live by faith in Christ (Galatians 2:20).  The path of the just is always to live by faith (Romans 1:17).

Change is a process that takes specific actions and the passing of time.  Ephesians 4:22-24 gives us three steps in the change process.  So consider those areas of your life where sin is still powerful force.  Consider the following steps to the biggest change of all -- your salvation:
 

a. Change is a "put off"

that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts... (Eph. 4:22, NKJV)

Without Christ, the "old man" or the old spiritual nature grows more and more corrupt each day.  You are not a sinner because you sin, but you sin because you are a sinner.  Without Christ, you are dead spiritually (Ephesians 2:1).  Lust, that desire to have what is not right for you to have, is "deceitful".  It promises satisfaction and does, in fact, provide temporary pleasure.  But in the end, it only fuels the fire for more.

At your conversion to Christ, you put off the old nature, the sin nature, the dead spiritual nature that existed before you knew Christ.  When you put your faith in Christ, you were born again with a brand new spiritual nature.  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV).  The tense of this verb means that the "put off" is a successful act.  It means to really put off something.  Often you will meet someone you know and they will say, "Come to see us sometime!"  You reply, "OK," but you never go over to visit with them.  That is the opposite of how the phrase "put off" is stated.  The "put off" is a deliberate conscious choice.

In order to be converted to Christ, you had to make a conscious, deliberate choice to surrender your life to the LORD Jesus Christ.  You made a choice to acknowledge before God that He is holy and you a sinner. You made a choice to believe that He died for your sins and rose from the grave on the third day.  You made a choice to invite Jesus Christ into your life and promised to follow Him.  Your salvation is the result of deliberate choice to turn from sin and turn to God through faith in the LORD Jesus Christ.
 

b. Change is a "put on"

and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:24, NKJV)

Again, the tense of this phrase "put on" in the original Greek is a successful act.  It means to really put on something -- don't just talk about it but really do it.  This is important because when you take away the old, you must replace it with something.  In Christ, you put on the "new man" or the new spiritual nature.  This nature, in God's eyes, is truly righteous and holy.  In other words, when God looks at you, He sees the righteous robes of Jesus Christ wrapped around you.  He sees your new nature.  And your new nature pleases Him!

In the Disney movie, "The Lion King", the King said to his son, Simba, "Remember who you are!"  He wanted Simba to continue to live his life by remembering all the things his father, the King, had taught him in word and in deed.  Our LORD Jesus Christ wants you to remember who you are:  a new creation in Christ "created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."  When the world puts you down, or you stumble into a sin, stop!  Take a check point -- remember who you are in Christ.
 

c. Change is also "renovation"

and be renewed in the spirit of your mind... (Ephesians 4:23, NKJV)

The word translated "renewed" from the original Greek means to renovate -- to completely make new.  If you renovate your kitchen, you take out the old appliances and put in new appliances.  You take out old cabinets and put in new cabinets.  It is a process that cannot happen all at once.  But, over time, it happens step by step.  The tense of this verb "be renewed" is in the present tense meaning a continual action.  You are to continually renew "spirit of your mind".

"What is wrong with my mind?" you may ask, "Are you saying we are all mental cases?"  Well, no, I am not saying we are all crazy.  But all of us need to have our minds renewed.  We live in a sin-cursed world.  We live with people who do not know God and follow their "deceitful lusts" to wicked ends.  We still have bodies of flesh that have been tainted by sin.  As a result, our thinking processes are slanted toward sin.  Our mind must be renewed to think righteous thoughts, to think the way God thinks about life.  Your mind needs to become like "mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16, NKJV).

As far as salvation is concerned, you "put off" the old, dead spiritual nature and "put on" the new, alive spiritual nature.  That happened at the moment you put your trust in the LORD Jesus Christ.  After that time, you are to engage in a process of renovation -- renewing your mind with God's truth. As the Bible says:

How can a young man cleanse his way?
   By taking heed according to Your word.
With my whole heart I have sought You;
   Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
   That I might not sin against You.
   (Psalm 119:9-11, NKJV)

Over fifteen times in Psalm 119, the Psalmist declares the need to transform his heart (another word for mind in the Old Testament).  That transformation happens by the word of God.  What you truly believe affects what you do.  Renovate your mind and you will change your behavior.  Revovate you mind with righteous thoughts -- the word of God -- and you will change your behavior to righteous deeds.  In spite of the wind of unrighteousness that rushes through a world of sinful desires, lean into the wind and walk with Christ. Remember, you are created in true righteousness and holiness in Christ.
 

3. Because you have a kingdom relationship with Jesus Christ, live by His kingdom values here on Earth.

25 Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. 26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:25-32, NKJV)

Having used the put off/put on example of your salvation experience, the Bible goes on to explain how we put this into practice in five specific areas that are often troubling to the Christian:  lying, anger, stealing, corrupt words, and bitterness.  Just as at salvation you put off the old spiritual nature, put on the new spiritual nature, and began the process of renovating your mind -- your life in Christ follows the same pattern. Consider the following chart (God's Process For Change):

 
 

Lying

When is a liar not a liar?  The liar must stop lying (put off), he must start speaking truthfully (put on), with the renewal of his mind that we are all members of one body (renovation).  In Christ, we are one body in Christ, the church.  In this world, we are one body of humanity.  No group of people can be one in goals and purpose, getting along with one another, if one person starts lying.  Lying splits the unity of a group and makes mutual goals impossible to achieve.  God knows this.  He also knows our tendency to lie to avoid getting in trouble.  You must put off lying and speak the truth in love so that you can live in harmony with others.
 

Anger

When is an angry man not an angry man?  "When he is nice?" you may ask.  The Bible indicates that we will all become angry at times and this is not necessarily sinful.  You must stop allowing your angry emotions to rule our behavior (put off).  "Be angry, and do not sin" is the command (put on).  Whatever makes you angry must be handled in a righteous way.  Renovate your mind with the truth that anger expressed in unrighteous ways is a tool of the devil (renovation).  Satan wants to divide you from others, to keep you from having good, close relationships with other people.  Give no place to the devil's work.  When you become angry, stop and consider carefully what you say and how you say it.  Words can inflict more harm than fists.
 

Stealing

When is a thief not a thief?  "When he stops stealing," you may say.  The Bible says that is not enough.  A thief is no longer a thief when he is something else.  He is no longer a thief when he stops stealing (put off), starts doing good, honest work (put on), and renews his mind with the purpose of working so that he can share with others who are in need (renovation).  The problem with stealing is that you are selfish.  The renewal of your mind is that God will supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19) so there is no need to steal.  Work so you can provide for the needs of others.
 

Corrupt Words

What are corrupt words?  Words that intentionally hurt others.  Words spoken in anger to strike back with revenge.  Words spoken with perverse words intended to entice others to lust.  Words spoken to intentionally offend others.  Rather than speaking any "corrupt word" (put off) you should instead speak only those words that are "good for necessary edification" (put on).  Edification is a word that means "to build up."  Speak words that will build others up, encourage them, uplift them.  Speak what is true, pure, and righteous.  Why do we need to do this?  We speak what builds others up " that it may impart grace to the hearers" (renovation).  Everyone is in need of grace.  Corrupt words turn people away from the grace of God.  Righteous words impart grace.
 

Bitterness

The last example covers a host of issues starting with bitterness.  And this is appropriate for bitterness is a poison to the very person who holds onto it.  Your own bitterness hurts you the most.  As you allow bitterness to take root in your life, it begins to spill over into actions that hurt other people: "wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking."  You must put away bitterness, along with these other outgrowths of bitterness (put off).  Instead, you are to be kind and tender-hearted toward others. You must maintain an attitude of forgiveness -- being willing to forgive the offenses of others (put on).  Why should you do this?  First, because bitterness and its associated sins grieves the Holy Spirit.  How can you as a Christian ever desire to grieve the Holy Spirit who dwells within you?  Second, consider the awesome forgiveness you received from God in Christ.  All of your ETERNAL sins were forgiven -- can you now refuse to forgive the EARTHLY sin of one who humbly asks you for it?  God forbid that I should withhold forgiveness for an earthly sin that will most likely be forgotten in ten years when God has forgiven me eternal sin for all eternity!

Conclusion

Change is a difficult, scary process.  Yet we do not approach change alone -- we walk by faith in Christ who promised, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5, NKJV).  Remember that you are already declared a new creation in Christ.  Walk by faith in that solemn declaration found in God's word.  Remember also that time is your friend.  Do not try to change all at once.  But use the three-step process by faith on one troubling issue at a time.  God is patient when He knows your earnest desire for righteousness.  It is His will, in fact, that "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29, NKJV).
 

Our Creator God loves you and wants you to know Him! If you would like to contact this ministry for further information or questions, please send your e-mail to:
Email: ministryrequest1@WordTruth.Com
Web Site: WordTruth.Com

Copyright ©  5/26/2002, Randy Lariscy.