Put On The New Man

Put on the New Man
Ephesians 4:17-32

Paul left us a treasury of guidance in his letters for Christian living. His advice is not just religious platitudes and inane moral cliché’s. These were things he learned from Jesus in the midst of similar attacks. Let’s read his advice in Ephesians 4:17-32.

I. Don’t Do This!
Paul is building on what he has already said about walking in a worthy manner and we touched on this a few weeks ago: Paul essentially says that to walk worthily means (verse 17) “not walking as Gentiles [which is] in the futility of his own mind.” Walking as a Gentile means elevating your own opinions above the wisdom of God.

I recently encountered a fellow pastor who told me he no longer believed in the Genesis account of creation. To paraphrase him, “he did not see how God could say one thing in special revelation (scripture) and then another thing in general revelation (the world around us).” Basically, he was saying that science has proven evolution- which it most certainly has not. My response was to ask where in general revelation is God saying “I created the world in 100 million years through the evolutionary process”? The truth is that the facts do not support evolution; if anything, there’s more science to support creation then there is to refute it. This pastor has opened wide the door to the darkness of Gentile thinking.

Having their minds darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. (v. 18).

This may seem like a benign thing to choose evolution over creation, after all, no major doctrine is affected and many truly born again godly and sincere Christians don’t believe in six literal days of Creation (because they think its been disproved by the theory of evolution). Let me say, I do not think that this pastor is evil or that Christians who do not believe in six literal days of creation are not true believers. But the problem is that they have not fully considered the consequences of what they assert.

An obvious consequence is that the argument, “God reveals himself to me through my ability to reason as well as through scripture and where there is a contradiction, reason has the authority,” can be used against any doctrine in scripture. If I don’t like the brutality of the cross, I can say, “God is too loving to allow his son to suffer that way- there is a contradiction between my reasoning and the scripture, therefore scripture must be a myth; the cross is just an allegory for how we ought to be sacrificial in our giving.”

Instead, we are to walk in the light of the Word- (this is where we left off last week with the four things that give life- the word gives us life). The Word is a light to our path, guiding us through the most difficult passages of life. The Word will anchor our hearts and minds to hope, reminding us daily of the gospel, renewing our minds, rooting us and building us up, comforting as well as giving us wisdom and direction. To be in the word is to learn from Christ who is the epitome of truth- the Word incarnate. And if we are in the Word, we have not so learned from Christ to walk in darkness (v. 20). Instead, by abiding in the word, we learn to put our old man to death.

II. Do This Instead!
So don’t do that, do this instead, is what Paul is saying and he lists seven things we can do to put on the new man, to walk in a worthy manner- these are not merely human, things, these are things that God himself practices, that’s why Paul closes this list with his command in 5:1 to be imitators of God. Let’s look at how we are commanded to behave:

1. v. 25 Don’t lie
The First thing we are told to do, or rather, not to do, is lie. Now this is obvious and one of those things we all should have learned in kindergarten. We don’t need to be a Christian to know that lying is bad. But the truth is that the power to be truly honest can only come from God.

The other day I took the kids for the first time to Beavers. Parker was so excited, he was ready to get the tent out and go camping. But when we got there, I realized that Parker was too young- he had to be five. Guess what thought passed through my mind in the split second before I decided what to tell Parker? Lie… about his age. I had that thought and that’s not unusual, in fact, we are bombarded daily with opportunities to lie. Many of them, where there is no chance of ever being caught. Lie to our employers, to our government, to our friends and families, on job résumés and applications, internet chat rooms.

If I were to ask for a show of hands, I bet everyone in this room has intentionally told a lie at least once this week. That’s walking as Gentiles. Lying always has consequences; the reason that Adam’s seed is cursed by sin is because of the lie that serpent told Eve in the garden. After Eve told Satan that God had told them they would die if they ate from the tree of knowledge- Satan replied, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:4-5). That’s why Jesus calls Satan the father of lies, because that lie was the mother of sin. Lies bring us into league with Satan. But the truth sets us free. “Let each one of you speak the truth” (v. 25). But this is no license to be mean to people, speak the truth in love.

2. v. 26 Be angry, but don’t sin
The second thing we are told to do is “be angry and don’t sin” (26). I think we are sometimes tempted to read this as a prohibition against anger, which leads to sin, as though it says, “Don’t be angry and sin.” But actually, this is a command to be angry, but don’t sin. But why would Paul command us to be angry and then later, in verse 31, it says to put anger away from you?

Paul is talking about two kinds of anger, one is vengeance, the other is righteous indignation. One makes us judge, jury and executioner, the other makes us grieve and trust God to judge. One is the wrath of man which gives place to the devil, the other is the wrath of God which gives place to grace. So be angry at sin, be angry at injustice, be angry at theft, be angry at corrupt talk, be angry at things that grieve the Holy Spirit… but do not be wrathful, do not take vengeance on God’s behalf- for that is a sin. “A quick-tempered man does foolish things” (Prov 14:17). “‘Vengeance is mine’ says the Lord.” Instead, in the place of sin, practice obedience; in the place of injustice practice righteousness; in the place of thievery, be generous; in the place of corrupt talk, speak kindly; in the place of things that grieve the Holy Spirit, practice things that bring him joy. “Be angry and sin not.”

3. v. 28 Don’t steel
The third thing is don’t steal . This is another thing we could have learned in Kindergarten without the Bible, even Gentiles know its wrong. So, thankfully I don’t need to teach you about steeling other people’s things because we all learned that in Kindergarten. But did kindergarten teach us that every day of our lives our sin nature causes us to steal the glory of God and put it onto ourselves or deflect unto created things? This is really another sin that has its root in the lie of Satan. He did tell Eve that if she ate from the fruit, she would be like God, in other words, she could steal his glory.

Another thing we steal from God is our possessions when we fail to give to Him what we have purposed in our hearts to give. Whether or not we agree with the tithe of giving 10% of our earnings to the Lord, the command is clear in both the Old and the New Testament, that we must give something to God and if anything 10% is a good start, but the New Testament increases what we are to give. Romans 12:1 tells us to give our entire bodies as living sacrifices to the Lord. That means we belong to him, and everything we own is his.

There is a blessing promised to those who give to support the work of the Lord, look at 2 Corinthians 9:6 ff

He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will
also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart,
not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God
is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all
sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

In other words, give generously and joyfully to the work of the Lord. By
doing that, you store treasure in heaven and are blessed by God’s provision here
on earth. In the end, when you steal from God what you have purposed to
give to Him, you rob yourself too.

4. v. 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth
It has become fashionable of late for young hip Christians to swear. I think that they wish appear less hypocritical and more friendly to the culture by using foul language. But that’s corrupt language. Proverbs 2:11-12 says that discretion and understanding will “deliver you …from the man who speaks perverse things.” What comes out of your mouth reveals a lot about what is in your heart.

James 3 says,

5 …the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.
Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue
also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the
whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on
fire by hell. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the
sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8 but no man can tame the
tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:5-8).

Proverbs 18:4 says, “The words of a man's mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.” Let your words impart grace.

5. v. 30 Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit
Verse 30 tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Many people mistakenly believe that Paul is talking about Blaspheme of the Holy Spirit- which is the rejection of Christ. They are two different things: unbelievers blaspheme the Holy Spirit, believers grieve him. We grieve him when we ignore His activity in our lives, when we don’t spend regular time in scripture and in prayer. It causes us to behave like Gentiles and we become bitter, wrathful, angry, clamorous, and evil speaking. The cure is joyful obedience. Finding our pleasure by living our lives to please God.

6. v. 32 Be kind to one another
The final thing we are commanded, the only positive command, verse 32, “Do be kind to one another.” How do we be kind to one another? By forgiving them. This kind of forgiveness means being tenderhearted and it comes from the fact that our hearts have been changed by the gospel, we are new men- we have been forgiven and so we forgive. In fact, we must daily ask for grace, because daily we forget to put on the new man, and instead we walk as gentiles in darkness by lying, sinning, stealing, cursing, and grieving the Holy Spirit. As we ask God daily to forgive us, we must also forgive others.

So let’s put on the new man and walk in light rather then darkness.