Server Outage Notice: TheSeed.info is transfering to a new Server on Tuesday April 13th
| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Rev. Steven Swets > An Eternal Change of Clothes | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) *Song of Adoration: Hymnal #22A: 9-11 “My God, My God, O Why Have You Forsaken Me?” Song of Confession: Hymnal #119G “Your Word Remember to Your Needy Servant” *Song of Preparation: Hymnal #446 “Be Thou My Vision” Scripture: Ephesians 4:17-32 Text: Ephesians 4:17-24 Message: An Eternal Change of Clothes *Song of Response: Hymnal #1B “How Blest the Man” *Doxology: Hymnal #488: 1-3 “May the Mind of Christ, My Savior” |
Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,
In my last congregation I served I had the privilege to preach through the gospel of John. I made it 20 of the 21 chapters before accepting a call to a congregation in Indiana. As a pastor and as a congregation, working through a book of Bible endears you to that text. You have the opportunity to dig deep into the text of God’s word. John was one of those books for me. It came alive and was comforting and encouraging. In the center of the book, we have the death of Lazarus in John 11. It is a special passage.
In that passage, we see the humanity and divinity of Christ on full display. We see Jesus having personal relationships with friends who he cares for. We see him stand outside the tomb of his friend and in verse 35 it simply says, “Jesus wept.” It is an emotional scene. We can picture it. Jesus was deeply moved. Then Jesus gives three commands. “Take away the stone”, then Jesus cried out, “Lazarus come out”, and when he does come out, he has the grave clothes still on. Jesus says, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
That event pictures the Christian life. By nature we are dead in sin, Ephesians 2 made that clear already. It is by the power of Jesus that we hear to call to “come out” to be raised, from our perspective, to believe. When that happens, we are changed forever. Then we put on new spiritual clothes. This is the language of our text this morning. We have put off the old and we have put on the new. Our text is speaking from the point of view that this has happened. Our text isn’t primarily a call to change clothes, it is a description of what we were and who we now are by grace. This is all because, we have heard and heeded the voice of the Good Shepherd. Our theme this morning is WE have been given a new life in Jesus Christ.
- The Old Life
- The New Life
I. The Old Life
Our text begins by picking up language used earlier. It is the language of walking. It is a biblical metaphor of life. Everyone walks. They walk in different ways, with different goals and purposes, with different passions, and when it comes to believers and unbelievers, Jesus says that they walk on different paths or roads, one narrow and difficult and the other wide and easy. The language of walking in verse 17 is described as the walk of the Gentiles. What this means is the unbeliever or pagan. Paul is not using the term Gentile to distinguish it from Jew like he did back in chapter 3. He uses it here to describe the walk of the unconverted.
In describing their walk, there will be the obvious application not to walk in their way. Verse 17 says that you must no longer walk as they do. The old life, or the life of the gentiles, is described in three different ways: They have dark minds, hard hearts, and callous senses.
Our text describes the unbelievers in the futility of their minds. This means that they are darkened in their understanding and they are ignorant of God. This description of the unbeliever is echoed in Romans 1:18-32. The darkness of their minds will not remain intellectual, but will impact what they do and why the do it.
First, the apostle says their minds are darkened. They are darkened in their understanding. Since they have not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, the light who came into the world, their minds are still darkened. They do not have a living spiritual connection to God. Though they are image bearers of God, any religious feeling or zeal will be misguided and centered on self. Have you ever wondered how someone could be part of some wicked religion, like Satanism. There are people who worship Satan. From the church of Satan website, it says they are “dedicated to the acceptance of man’s true nature-that of a carnal beast, living in a cosmos that is indifferent to our existence.” Their minds are darkened. Their devotion is mid-guided. They are groping in the darkness.
Second, our text says in verse 18 that they are “alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them…” Back in Eph. 2:12 it described the believer's old life as “…having no hope and without God in the world.” If you are without God, then this life is all that there is. When you die you cease to exist. There are some unbelievers who will be vocal that they hate God. There are others who simply have never heard the gospel. They might even come to faith later in life, but their mind is still darkened. Nevertheless, the natural, carnal mind is at enmity with God.
The second part of this description involves their hearts. Verse 18 describes them as hard or their “hardness of heart.” This is a common phrase used in the Bible (Mk. 3:5; 6:52; John 12:40). Sometimes the Bible speaks of the process of a hardening heart. What this term is getting as is a stubborn refusal to that which is good. It is a hardening in sin and rejection of God. I read this week that one of the January 6 insurrectionists was sentenced to 6 years in prison. He had planned to lead a violent overthrow of the government in Portland later in January. He told the judge that if the judge sentences him to 100 years, he would do the same thing again. The man is hardened. He has a deep-seated hatred for the government. Our catechism says that by nature we hate God and our neighbor. Though some people might not be as vocally anti-God, their hearts are hardened to him.
The third description is calloused senses. They have become callous. A young man who comes home from college for the summer to work as a brick laborer will learn what callouses are. After the first couple days the “college hands” have developed blisters. As the weeks go by, those blisters harden up into callouses. The smoother hands at the beginning of the summer are rough and calloused by the end. This takes place through a process. So does the heart and desires of the wicked. They become calloused. Read verse 19. Verse 19 mentions sensuality and every kind of impurity. This is referring to public and shameful sin. It is the hedonist’s dilemma. What happens when the things of this life no longer satisfy.
What takes place physically oftentimes in the world of drugs is described spiritually in our text. Marijuana is often called a gateway drug. The reason why is because once someone starts using marijuana, they will be opened up to a whole drug world. A longer and higher high is desired. Marijuana turns to cocaine, which turns to heroin, to meth or fentanyl. At the end of it all, the user is broke, unfulfilled, and close to death. You ever see one of those pictures of someone who was drug free and then becomes an addict and what they look like a few months in. This is a picture of the actions and senses spiritually speaking.
There are two important reasons for this description in God’s word to us today. First, it is important for us to understand the mind that is at enmity with God. What is taking place in their mind, heart, and life. They are without hope for they are without God. When there is no objective standard, they become the shifting standard of life, purpose, and morality. We should empathize with them. We should never condone or enable wicked behavior, but it should grieve us, partly because that would be us if it wasn’t for the grace given us in Jesus Christ. As verse 20 says, you learned Christ, and that made all the difference in the world.
Second, why would Paul be telling these things to the Ephesians? Because there was the danger to dip back into the old life. The old life does have pleasures…they are empty, but they do seem to fulfill for the moment. When good things, like food, drink, sex, entertainment, art, etc. are twisted, they become sinful. But there is a good use for them. Every believer, young and old, needs to be reminded to turn from sin. Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, to deny our flesh. The old word for this is mortification. A dying to the old self, the old ways, the old nature. The old word for the call to live in the new self is vivification.
II. The New Life
In verses 20-21 the transition from the old life to the new is explicitly laid out. However, this is recalling what happened in the past. The already believe. Notice here the words that are used.
They went to the school of Jesus. They didn’t learn truths about Christ. They learned Christ. They don’t have faith in the idea of Jesus, they have faith in Jesus Christ. Notice also here that the faith they have in the person of Christ is not theoretical. The connection made here between faith after the school of Jesus and life are intimately connected. Their hearts are no longer dark, they are no longer in the kingdom of darkness, they are no longer, as Eph. 2:3 put it “children of wrath.” They are in Christ. This impacts everything they think, say, and do.
Notice also what it says in verse 21. The word “about” should not be there. They didn’t hear about Christ, they heard Christ. This is one of those passages which places such importance on the preaching of the word. In the pure preaching of the word, Christ is heard. As we saw last week from verse 12, the preaching, and our call to heed it and believingly receive it, is of paramount importance. It is the primary way we are equipped for the work of ministry. For the believer, they listen differently than an unbeliever. They are seeking to receive their direction from the Lord.
The text continues and we come to this helpful illustration for the Christian life. We are to put off the old self and put on the new self. This is the language of changing our clothes. Like Lazarus coming out of the tomb wearing the clothes of death, he exchanges them for the clothes of life. Read verse 22. When the Lord turned my life around, I was 18 years old. Some things remained the same, but some things changed. There were certain things I associated with the old life. Certain music, places, people, etc. I had to put those things and those people off of me. I was renewed.
The mind of the believer is changed. It is transformed. The term used is the “spirit of your minds.” There is a spirit of this world and there is the spirit of Christ. The Christian mind looks ahead. The believer knows of a living hope, an unshakable foundation, the reality that their security is in Jesus Christ.
Notice the words used in verse 24 (read). The believer is a new creation. We are restored to much of what was lost in the fall to begin with. The image of God in us is being restored. Our catechism picks up this language in dealing with the image of God in us. In Jesus Christ, we are new creations. When this happens, the believer never goes back. They are forever in Christ. We can be assured that we will never fall out of God’s love and favor.
When we speak of putting off the old and putting on the new, there is a definitive reality that takes place. There is also the continual process of dying away to the old and coming to life of the new in daily conversion. We are in a life-long process of renewal.
As we close here, let’s reflect for a moment on two points to ponder. First, the believer is called to flee worldliness. The way of godliness is the way we learned Christ. Some things in life are wrong and Christians should not have any part in them. However, there are other things in life that are often used wrongly by some, but can be used properly by others. This is a way of redeeming the time and it is this Christian liberty that God gives us. Many things like card playing, celebrating holidays, alcohol, dancing, movie-watching, tobacco use, martial arts etc. To illustrate, is it wrong to play cards? You will probably say no. But, what if I said each hand of cards is a gamble of $100….now it becomes problematic. There is a way to play cards that is honoring to God and a way that is dishonoring. Many activities are like this. Christians are to redeem the time and pursue righteousness. As they do so, they may use God’s gifts for his glory.
Notice further that to put on the new self is to be re-created after the likeness of God. Let us seek the things of God. Is it your true desire to walk in righteousness and holiness? Is this what you seek for your family, your friendships. Are they honoring God in holiness? What about the use of your time? We can all think of legalistic ways to look righteousness and holy. That is not what our text is getting at. What it is getting at is combination of how you think and how you act. Where is your heart?
When our Lord stood in front of Lazarus’ grave and commanded him to come out and change his clothes. That was a miracle. A minute earlier, Lazarus was as dead as a doornail. But, then, he was alive. In Christ, we put off the old clothes of the old life…the life of darkness in this sad world. We put on Christ, with his glorious robes and our life is changed. In the coming weeks we will see what this means in the life of the believer. At this point, let us praise the Lord for our new life in Christ. Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Steven Swets, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2024, Rev. Steven Swets
Please direct any comments to the Webmaster
