SERMON OUTLINE

Careful Living in 2010   (Ephesians 5.15)

Taught to Put Off and to Put On  Ephesians 4.17-24

  “But you not so learned Christ, if indeed him you heard and in him were taught as truth is in Jesus, to put off you (aorist – single action complete in the past) according to the former conduct the old man being corrupted according to the lusts of deceit, and to be renewed (continuous present – ongoing action) in the spirit of the mind of you, and to put on the new man (aorist – single action complete in the past) according to God created in righteousness and holiness of truth.”                 (Ephesians 4.20-24 – Literal translation)

 Introduction

-Sinner or Saint? Saint living like a Saint? “I insist in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do.” v17 -We have come to know Christ and have been taught in Him. v20-21

-v22-24, Why and how to live like a saint.

-Ephesians 2.1-3, once walked; 4.17 (2x), no longer walk; 2.10, walk in good works; 4.1, walk worthy; 5.1-2, walk in love; 5.8-9, walk as children of light; 5.15, be very careful how we walk.

-Message today: if you are a saint then live like a saint.

 Taught to Put off the Old man and to Put on the New

-The importance of the mind and teaching to walking as a saint. To deny the importance of the mind and doctrine is to move toward sensuality. The mind must be renewed.

-Put off; Renew, Put on – not commands but teaching.

Commands begin in verse 25 and follow teaching.

-Put off; Put on; aorist – single action complete in past

-Renew – continuous present, ongoing action

-When we believed, God united us to Christ and to His death on the cross and to His resurrection. Romans 6.6-7; 6.4

 Conclusion

-The practice of putting off sinful behavior and putting on righteous behavior must be based on an understanding of the reality of God’s work in our union with Christ on the cross and the resurrection.

-Apart from the reality of God’s work on the cross in our union with Christ, all we would have is a new morality without spiritual reality, and that would be of no value to God or to us.

SERMON NOTES

Careful Living in 2010   (Ephesians 5.15)

Taught to Put Off and to Put On         Ephesians 4.17-24

 -Let me begin this morning with a couple of questions. As you sit in your pew in the presence of God this morning, are you a sinner or are you a saint? You cannot be both. Before God this morning you are either a condemned sinner or a saved saint.

-If you have repented of your sin and have asked God to save you in Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit has filled you with the life of God, you are a saint. But if you do not have the life of God in you, you are still a sinner under the condemnation of God.

-If you are a sinner this morning, God can supernaturally transform you into a saint if you turn to God, repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. Only God can transform you into a saint, you cannot make yourself into a saint by changing your behavior.

 –If you are a saint this morning, are you living like a saint or are you living like the sinner you once were? You cannot make yourself a saint by the way you live but if God has made you a saint are you living like a saint? In this passage Paul, as does the entire NT, urges saints to live as saints and not as sinners. Paul says he is echoing the Lord’s desire in his call for saints to live as saints and not as sinners. “I insist in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do.”

-Paul goes on to describe what we were like as sinners before God made us saints in Christ. Paul paints the depressing picture of the futile, aimless and empty life of a sinner, a life we all once lived. Sinners are darkened in their understanding, separated from the life of God, have hearts like stone toward God, are beyond conviction and shame and pursue sensuality, immorality, impurity and greed. The sinner is motivated by lusts and ruled by deceit, which leads to corruption. That is what all of us once were and how we once lived. As saints we are no longer to live this way.

–We have come to know Christ. (v20) We are new creations in Christ. We are called to live as saints in Christ. We have been taught in Christ.

-In verses 22-24, Paul reminds us both why and how we are to live as saints. Then he goes on to provide detailed instructions on how a saint is to walk beginning in verse 25. Today we will study together verses 22-24.

 -Before we look at verses 22 to 24, I want to remind you that Paul uses the word walk 8 times in this letter. Walk means the way we live. As we trace the usage of walk in this letter we find the same urgent message as in these verses, “now that you are saints, walk as saints and no longer as sinners”.

-In Ephesians 2.1-3, Paul describes how we once walked as sinners. [Read]

-In Ephesians 4.17 (2x), Paul insists that we no longer walk as sinners. [Read]

-In Ephesians 2.10, Paul tells us that God created us in Christ to walk in good works. [Read]

-In Ephesians 4.1, Paul urges saints to walk worthy of our calling [Read]

-In Ephesians 5.1-2, Paul encourages us as dearly loved children of God to walk in love. [Read]

-In Ephesians 5.8-9, Paul tells us as saints to no longer walk in the darkness as sinners but to walk as children of light. [Read]

-In Ephesians 5.15, Paul challenges us as saints to be very careful how we walk. We are to walk as wise men and women, filled with the Holy Spirit, in submission to one another. [Read]

-We once walked as sinners, in darkness and under the wrath of God. Now as saints we are to walk in good works, in a manner worthy of our calling as saints, in love, in light, in moral purity, in good confession, in step with the Holy Spirit.

-The message today is clear, if you are a saint then live like a saint.

 -In your bulletin you will find a literal translation of verses 20-24 and this is the translation that we will use today.

“But you not so learned Christ, if indeed him you heard and in him were taught as truth is in Jesus, to put off you (aorist – single action complete in the past) according to the former conduct the old man being corrupted according to the lusts of deceit, and to be renewed (continuous present – ongoing action) in the spirit of the mind of you, and to put on the new man (aorist – single action complete in the past) according to God created in righteousness and holiness of truth.” (Ephesians 4.20-24 – Literal translation)

-If you read only the words in bold print you will get the main idea in these verses. “You were taught to put off you according to the former conduct the old man, and to be renewed in the spirit of the mind, and to put on the new man created in righteousness and holiness.”

-Notice first of all the importance that Christianity places on the mind and on teaching. Living like a saint begins with a mind that has been taught the truth from God’s Word. That mind then moves the will and the will directs the daily walk. Emotional well-being results from Biblical thinking, choices and action. A mind taught by the Scriptures is essential to living as a saint. You will find that teaching that denies the importance of the mind and Biblical doctrine for growth in godliness leads to sensuality not spiritual maturity. The renewal of the mind is vital to living in truth and in love as a saint.

-Paul says that they were taught three truths in Christ – to put off you the former conduct of the old man, to be renewed in the spirit of the mind, and to put on the new man created in righteousness and holiness. Paul tells us here how we are to live as a saint.

-At first reading these three verbs may look like commands for us to put into practice but they are not commands. They are infinitives not imperatives. Paul is teaching a process here not commanding obedience. The commands follow from the teaching beginning in verse 25, “therefore put off falsehood, etc…”. It would not be logical to have a command to put off in verse 22 and then command “therefore put off” again in verse 25. What Paul is reviewing in verses 22-24 is the process for living like a saint and the doctrinal basis upon which that process is based. Then the command to put the truth and process into practice begins in verse 25.

 -Another fact I want to draw to your attention here is that “put off” and “put on” are in the aorist tense. An aorist points to a single action completed in the past. This also shows that Paul is not commanding here but giving doctrinal instruction. The verb “to be renewed” is a continuous present. So “to put off the old man” and “to put on the new man” points to a past event, and “to renew the mind” is to go on continually. What does this all mean? Well let’s try to put it all together.

 -To live like a saint you need to understand that when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, God united you to Christ. You also need to understand what God did when He united you with Christ. Christ not only died as a substitute for you on the cross, but God also united you with Christ in His death on the cross and in His resurrection from the dead. Our union with the death and resurrection of Christ is the foundation of the teaching in these verses.

–Romans 6.6 says, “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Christ”. The old man in this verse refers to my life as a sinner when I was spiritually dead and separated from God. This was my natural life as a son of Adam. It is a fact that Christ was crucified and died on the cross. Because God united me with Christ when I believed, it is also a fact that when Christ died on the cross that I died with Christ. My old life as a sinner in Adam came to an end on the cross. In my death with Christ on the cross sin lost its power over me, the law lost its power to condemn me, and death lost its power to destroy me. A dead man cannot sin, he cannot be condemned for sin, and he cannot die again.

–Romans 6.6-7 goes on and says, “that our old man was crucified with Christ, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin”.

-To live like a saint I need to know that at the cross, in union with Christ, I died to the power of sin over me. The death of my old man is a permanent status that has not changed and will never change. It is on the foundation of that single and permanent action in the past that I am to live as a saint and not like a sinner. To live like a sinner is to deny the work of God in me and the death of my old man in my union with Christ.

-On the basis of the death of my old man in union with Christ, I am to put off from me the former conduct I practiced while I was in Adam. I am no longer to live as a sinner in Adam because I am dead to that life in my union with the death of Christ on the cross.

-When sin comes to the saint and demands obedience, the saint must remember that the old man who used to give obedience to sin is now dead. Because of that reality, the conduct of the old man is to be permanently put off and no longer to be taken up again. No matter how many times sin comes to demand obedience, that demand is to be denied because the man upon whom that demand is being made is dead.

 -Not only has God united me with the death of Christ but He has also united me with the resurrection of Christ. Romans 6.4 teaches says, that “As Christ was raised from the dead through the Glory of the Father, so we too walk in newness of life”. In my union with Christ I have resurrection life and now belong to the family of God as a child of God. This too is a permanent status that will never change. It is on this foundation of life that I live as a saint and not like a sinner. To live like a saint is to affirm my resurrection life in union with Christ.

-When sin comes to the saint and demands obedience, the saint must remember that he walks in newness of life and need no longer give obedience to sin. Because of that reality, the saint walks in true righteousness and holiness.

 -So what Paul is doing in these verses is reminding the believers of what God did when they came to faith in Christ. Paul is reminding the believers that God united them with Christ’s death and resurrection. In their union with the death of Christ the old man died, (one single action in the past), and the power of sin and law and death was nullified. In their union with the resurrection of Christ a new man was raised up, (one single action in the past), full of life and alive unto God. That is the understanding of the saint which leads to putting off the old conduct, the old walk, and to putting on the new way of life, the new walk in righteousness and holiness.

 -The practice of putting off sinful behavior and putting on righteous behavior must be based on an understanding of the reality of God’s work in our union with Christ on the cross and in His resurrection. Our practice of a godly life must be grounded in the reality of God’s work in us in Christ. Godly living is not just the result of new behaviors, but the result of God cutting off the power of sin at the cross in the death of our old man, and giving us the power of new life in the Holy Spirit. If it were not for the reality of God’s work in us in our union with Christ, all we would have is a new morality with new behaviors without spiritual reality. That walk would be of no value to God or to us.

 -There is a lot to think about this morning. I would encourage you to listen to this message again or to read the full notes on the website.

-We have more to cover on these verses and will continue next week. In the meantime, pray for insight and read Romans 5.12 to the end of chapter 6 which is the subject of our meditations this week.

 -If you are a saint you are to live like a saint. You are a saint because God has united you to Christ, to His death on the cross and to His resurrection life. God has put off your corrupt old man and put on a new man created to be like God. Because of what God has done you are a saint. You are called to live like a saint, and you are able to live like a saint because the old man is dead and you are a new man in Christ. If you are a saint, live like a saint and not like a sinner.