Making Radical Change

Introduction

Of Ephesians, we’ll be going to see each and every one to see so many. What we’ve been doing with the teens this weekend, as I made mention already, is we’ve been focusing on the idea of doing hard things. And we talked about how faith, real faith, is actually a very hard thing. We talked about that yesterday morning. Resisting temptation is a hard thing. Having true purity, being devoted to God completely is a hard thing. Giving our lives and service to God and service to others is a hard thing. And that while the world’s expectations for us, our young and old may be very low in those areas, God’s expectations are as high as they can be.

Change. It’s a very difficult notion. When you look in the Bible, though, all of God’s great figures change in their lives. Abraham, even though we don’t think of this very often, but Joshua records in Joshua 21, that Abraham and his forefathers were idolaters before God called them, served other gods in Ur of the Chaldeans. But Abraham changed. He served the one true God. Moses had numerous changes in his life. When we think of Moses, we think of this great leader of Israel. But you also remember when God first appeared to Moses, Moses is beaten down and afraid. Yet change would be required of Moses. He would have to change in order to serve God. We think of the apostles. We think of them and their lives and how they thought of Jesus in this great kingdom.

And how even when Jesus was arrested and tried and crucified, they all fled. They would have to change. They were going to have to accept what the true kingdom was and be willing to serve that kingdom and to die for that kingdom. Perhaps no figure strikes our mind as a greater change than the Apostle Paul in Acts and 9th chapter. We’re here, Saul, a great persecutor of the church, and yet we see by the end of that chapter, now Saul who had once persecuted Christ was teaching and preaching Christ, using his knowledge of the scriptures. What a great change Paul made. And in reality, what all of us are called to do is to change. We’ll explore that some this morning together. I want to start, though, with a different question.

1. What Does It Mean to Be Saved?

What does it mean when we say that we are saved? If I were in a Bible class setting and I asked this of our teenagers at university last summer, you would imagine, and maybe many of you are giving the answer right now, to be saved is to have sins forgiven. Well, that’s a great answer. Having our sins forgiven is a great answer, and we can use a host of Bible passages to talk about our need to have sins forgiven. We’ve even commemorated the death of Jesus. And as he spoke of that death and said in Matthew 26 and verse 28 about his blood, the blood of the covenant that was shed for the forgiveness of sins. And we teach others that they should be baptized to have their sins forgiven because that’s what we read in passages like Acts 2 and verse 38.

And so salvation is tied with the forgiveness of sin. And so if you answer that, then yes. But I ask you, is that all? Is that all that is meant and implied in the idea of being saved is that you had your sins forgiven. The slate was wiped clean, if you will. Or is it perhaps a little bit deeper than that? I think it is.

You said something that was thoughtless or had some other kind of careless action. You need to get forgiveness, but you’re not necessarily a bad person. You just had something that was wrong that you needed them to forgive you. You’re still a good person and everything’s great and fine. And I fear that we can kind of miss the picture of what God has done for us when we only say, He forgave me of my sins. Understanding, please, don’t misunderstand me. That is what we needed. We needed our sins forgiven. But when you look in the scriptures, the scriptures go a little bit deeper than that. It wasn’t just that your wrongs were forgiven. It wasn’t just that you had the slate wiped clean that you could go and mess up again.

No, it was much deeper than that. The reason I ask you to turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2 this morning is I think we see that clearly. Ephesians chapter 2. I was asked the question not that long ago. You know, if you were just to get up in the wing of sermon, you know, do you have something? There’s actually someone who was thinking about preaching. He said, Do you have something in your back pocket always that you could just get up and preach saying, Well, I don’t actually keep a sermon in my back pocket, but I guess if I needed to, I’d just get up and preach Ephesians chapter 2. I put a little more thought into it this morning than that. Just a little.

2. You Were Dead, but He Made Us Alive

But Ephesians chapter 2 will pretty much preach yourself. Well, let’s look at what Paul has to say. Paul is dealing with life before Christ, and he’s dealing with life with Christ. And he has some contrast in this wonderful chapter. And you know the first area of this contrast in verses 1 through 3. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we’re by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Now read that and ask yourself what did you need God to do for you? What had your sin done? It just made you needing forgiveness. No, it had changed you. And it changed me. We weren’t the child coming before a parent seeking forgiveness, knowing we’re still a good child. No, we have been completely changed. Our sin produced death in us. We were no longer following God. We were following the Prince of the Course of the power of the air. We were by nature, and understand, yes, that idea is perverted. No, we were not inherently born with Adam’s sin, but our own actions had shown that we had corrupted the glorious nature in which God created us. We were now by nature children of wrath. That’s what sin had done to us.

Not just making us need forgiveness. Yes, we needed forgiveness, but we had changed. We had become something God did not create us as.

Now, let me ask you, look at that passage and ask yourself again. What did God do for you? Well, forgave us our sins. Do you see you’re kind of missing the point? He didn’t just forgive you of your sins. Read the language again. God who’s rich in mercy, his great love. We were dead in our transgressions, but he made us alive. He changed everything. You were dead. Now you are alive. You were following the course of the prince of the power of the air. You were by nature children of. But now he’s raised you up with him, seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And he might show the surpassing rich of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. God forgave you of your sins.

3. Without God, Now a Temple of God

God made you alive. God united you with his Son, His Son who now rules over all, and you rule with Him. Everything has changed. A further contrast in the chapter. And perhaps he was, I believe he’s dealing with a Gentile idea. The Gentiles had been separated, and the Ephesian church was probably predominantly Gentile, but there’s an aspect of this that would have been true of all. So he says to them, Remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who were called uncircumcision. That is, they were not the children of God by the so-called circumcision, that is the fleshly nation of Israel. Remember, verse 12, that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers of the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

That was certainly true of the Gentile world. Strangers to the covenants of God, uncircumcised, no hope without God. And it was true of the Jewish people too. Even when the Jewish people were serving God, they were not truly united with God, for they had this temple. They had a tabernacle. And God could dwell, quote unquote, in the temple or in the tabernacle. And once every year a high priest could go into the presence of God, but only after he stuck the incense in first, created a cloud in there, and only when he’s bringing in with him the blood of sacrifices that he could sprinkle on the ark of the covenant. Only then, one time a year, could any of Israel and only one man go in before God.

I tell you, that tabernacle, not only did it serve the purpose of showing Israel that yes, God was with them, but it also showed to Israel, you’re not yet ready to be in the presence of God. And of course, the history of Israel was a history of departing from God, and ultimately God departing from them.

You were without hope, and you were without God. And here’s what God has done for you. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by it having put to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to those who were far away, and peace to those who were near.

For through him we both have our access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Now you’ll note that the main emphasis of that passage is first of all the reconcile reconciliation in Christ of Jew and Gentile. The Gentiles are brought near. But you also see that Paul goes further because God has gone further. Yes, the Gentile and the Jew are reconciled.

They’re now one man. That wall of partition has been brought down. The law, the commandments are done away with. But now they become a temple of God. The Jew did not dare to think that he himself was the temple of God. No, there was a temple. That temple was a holy place. It was to be a purified place. It was where God dwelt among men. They went to the temple and they served him. But God had foretold a day when his presence would be not just in a house of stone, but in the very presence of his people. And that’s what Paul says we have become. Here we were, one time strangers, without God, without hope, and now God with us. We become a temple of God, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

That’s what God did for us. And the reason why you and I, we’ve got to just go back and read these passages and be smitten again and again with what God does for us. He didn’t just forgive us of a few wrongs. No matter how slight your transgressions may have seemed, he did not simply forgive you of a few wrongs. He transformed you again. You were dead. Now you were alive. You were by nature children of wrath. Now you reign with his son. You were strangers without God, without hope in the world. Now you become the very presence of where God dwells among men. Because if you and I are ever going to make any change in our life, we’ve got to be smitten with that fact.

4. Walk No Longer as the Gentiles Walk

That here is what my God has done for me. Here is what your God has done for you. Going over to the fourth chapter. The reason why I love Ephesians so much, it’s so easily divided. I tell you, you go back and you read Ephesians chapter 1 through 3, and you will be smitten over and over and over again. Here is what God has done for us. Here is what God does for us. And then you read chapters 4, 5, and 6, and you say, okay, here’s how I should respond. Here is what this great God deserves from me. And that’s what Paul is emphasizing to these saints. And so he says in verse 17 of the fourth chapter, this I say, and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind.

You’ll note he emphasized no longer. You’ve done that. You’ve been there before. No longer walk this way. It’s time to change. If God changed you so completely, now it’s time for that change to be seen in your life. The Gentile world was darkened in their understanding. They were excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart, and they having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. Does that sound like our world? Does that sound like the world we’re trying to get people to come out of? Does that sound like the world that we ourselves came out of? Sure it does. What’s Paul’s point?

You didn’t learn Christ this way.

Anyone, anyone who truly appreciates what God has done for us, what you read there in Ephesians chapter 2, anyone who appreciates, here is what God has done for us, could not say, It’s okay for me to live however I want to live. You know, there are sometimes you read in Romans, sometimes it almost seems as if Paul is saying it’s impossible for a Christian to sin. Well, he’s not saying it’s impossible for a Christian to sin, because he would be contradicting himself throughout the rest of Scripture. But this is the point Paul’s making so many times. A Christian, a Christian, who is so smitten by what his God has done for him, isn’t going back to that. Not that it’s impossible for a Christian to sin, but a Christian’s will now be set on God.

He’s not going back to that. You didn’t learn Christ that way. You didn’t learn from Christ that, okay, once I forgive you of your sins, once I make you alive again, once I set you up to reign with me, once I make you a temple of God, it’s okay to go back to that former life. You didn’t learn that. You learned here’s what my God has done for me. Now, how may I serve my God? What changes in my life need to take place now that God has changed me from the inside. Paul goes further. Verse 22. In reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit. Time to put that away.

That’s old life. That’s corrupt life. And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

That’s the big picture of the Bible right there. Big picture of the Bible is God created you holy. Actually, I think I’m getting ahead of myself because I’m thinking I’m coming back to that. Nope, I’m not. I’m good. God created you holy. We became unholy. God made us alive. We sought after death. But he changed that. And what Paul is saying here is now don’t miss out on what’s supposed to happen. If you were once created in the image of God, that’s the end goal. That you become again in the image of God. That is you were once created holy and true and pure, that that’s why Christ came. Because we, by our own devices, we went into the world. We went into sin and in darkness into death.

And now God has made it possible that what we once lost through sin, that close identification with God, being the true children of God, is found again. Life, recreated in us. Life in his image. Not life like we used to have. That was death. New life. In the new image, the new self, rather in the likeness of God. The more and more I read in the New Testament, that idea comes over and over and over again. 2 Peter chapter 1 is one that I’ve spent a good bit of time in with some classes. And there Peter is saying in verse 4 that we’re become partakers of the divine nature. Think of that. Partakers of the divine nature. Now, what does it mean for you to become a partaker of the divine nature?

Are you going to be like God and be, you know, like I like to sing with my kids, my God is so big, so strong and so mighty. Well, that’s not going to be me. I’m not going to have the wisdom and the knowledge of God. Not like he has it anyway. But what Peter is talking about in 2 Peter chapter 1 is the moral character of God. And that’s why he says, you’re to add to your faith, virtue. And to your virtue, knowledge. And to your knowledge, self-control. And to your self-control, perseverance. And to your perseverance, godliness. And to your godliness, brotherly affection or kindness. And to your brotherly kindness, love. Peter is giving us the Christianity for dummy versions almost. You’re supposed to be like God again.

Here’s how you do it. Work on those eight things. Work on your faith. Work on your moral purity, your virtue. Work on your godliness, the respect you have for God. Work on your love for others. Work on your knowledge. Work on your perseverance. You do those things, and you’re partakers of the divine nature because God has made you that. Over and over again in scriptures, that’s what we see. That’s the purpose of what God has done for us in Christ. It’s to make us new. Not just blot out the old, make us new. Recreated in his image, his glory. In our lesson on temptation yesterday, I asked the kids to come up with a list, list of reasons why we succumb to temptation, list of excuses that we make.

They came up with 15. 15 excuses that we make that we give into temptation. One of the ones they, I think they they put on there, or they may not have had it in the exact same words that I had it. But one of the words I thought of was, and it’s sadly becoming more and more true in this generation, in this world. The reason why so many give into temptation is they just don’t care. We just don’t care anymore. Don’t care about if there’s a standard or if there’s a God or if there’s any reason why I ought to behave in a certain way. We just don’t care. Read Ephesians 1 through 3 and ask yourself, should I care? Read Ephesians 4. And what Paul is talking about, how now you can put away the old man and be recreated in the image of God and ask yourself, should I care?

5. The Radical Changes They Should Make

Should it mean something to me? For if I’m going to make any change in my life, if there’s going to be any motivation for me to make any of the changes in my life, then I’ve got to care. And God’s given me every reason to care. So what Paul does from then on is he talks about the radical changes that they should make. I’m not going to belabor any of these points. There’s so many. But just go with me through the rest of Ephesians 4 and much of chapter 5. And you just see, that’s Paul’s point. If you’re interested in putting off the old and putting on the new, then yes, you have assurance, God is doing this. You have the assurance that through the blood of his son, this is possible, but he’s still laying emphasis on you have responsibility here.

You’ve got to make some changes in your life. So he starts in verse 25 with the issue of honesty. Laying aside falsehood. Speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor. For we are members of one another. How easy it is to be false. How easy it is to tell others what they would like to hear. Paul said, Nope, got to change God’s truth. God who never lies needs people who don’t lie. He needs people who are known for their honesty and integrity, who are known as people of God, so that what we say can be trusted, and people might come to know God themselves. He talks about our temper. Be angry. And yet do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.

How quickly our temper leads to an opportunity for the devil to hold grudges, to bear ill will. Paul says no. He recognizes, yes, we’re still living in the flesh. Yes, that temper may still be there. Yes, that anger may still flare from time to time, but you’ve got to control it. You cannot allow it to be a place for the devil to control you, to have you feel ill toward others and to act ill toward others. No. That has to change. Verse 28 isn’t just about money, but it begins with, he who steals must steal no longer. But rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good. So you have something to share with one who has need. Talk about a radical change.

One who is stealing for his own gain, his own desires. Here’s the change you’ve got to make. Labor. Work. But not just for yourself. Now you’re working so that others who are in need, they might also have some benefit from you. I hope we don’t have any thieves in here. I’m going to assume we don’t. What’s the purpose of my money? What’s the purpose of the job that I have? Yes, I need to provide for my family. But you also labor, so you can aid others who are in need. You radically rethink what God has given you financially and the benefit that He’s given to you in this life, and how that should be used in service to others. Oh the tongue, verse 29. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth.

But only such a word as is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. I combine those two verses for this reason. The Holy Spirit, the one who reveals truth from God. What should our mouths be used for? Let no unwholesome word, let no corrupting or defiling word, oh the power that our words have. He’s not just talking about a curse.

The words that come from our mouths, do they edify or do they tear down? Are we quick to spread gossip, the latest tale we hear about others? Or do we rather believe the truth, believe good things, the best about others, and be willing rather to use our mouths not to spread lies and slander and ill will, but to use our mouths to edify, to build up, to spread the gospel, to speak the truth of God. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit. We don’t know James says about the tongue. Oh, the tongue is hard to control, like a flame of fire. Who can control it? And yet the whole point of that passage is you must control it. Here’s a change we’ve got to make in our lives.

What are we using our mouths for? Are we using them to edify, to build up? Are we using them to glorify God? Are we using them to tear down our fellow man to corrupt them? Our attitude, verses 31 and 32. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with our malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. There’s a reason why God spends so much time in the New Testament talking about our personal relationships. There’s a reason why he keeps on talking about how we must love one another. Because we’re so quick. We’re so quick to feel ill will. We’re so quick to feel slighted. We’re so quick to feel persecuted.

6. A Standard of Morality Must Change

We’re so quick to see a wrong that’s been committed against us. And to let that transform into our attitude of bitterness and wrath and anger. Old man. Old man. It’s time for old man to die. Time for new man to live. So you, rather than focus on all the wrongs and the ills that you may have suffered, you be kind hearted. You be tender. You forgive. Just as God forgave you. See what I mean? It’s the hardest thing there is. Change. Changing attitude. It’s one of the hardest things you could ever do. And yet God expects us to change. Because He’s made it possible in His Son. Go to chapter 5. A standard of morality must change. Therefore, we’ll be imitators of God, his beloved children.

That’s what we are now. Recreated in His image. Now truly children of God. Children of God are to bear the image of God. So walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this is known with certainty that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has inheritance in the kingdom of God in Christ. I tell you, you read that passage, somebody say, All right, here you go.

There’s the rules. Don’t do this, don’t do this, do this, do this. What a shame. What a shame. That’s how God’s law, God’s will is viewed. What’s the point of what God’s saying here?

Because they’re not like God anymore. That immorality, that impurity, that idolatry made them not like God. The point of the scriptures, the point of his will, of his law has always been help them be like me. We’re not trying to squash a good time. We’re not trying to rule people’s lives. We’re trying to show people here’s who God is. God’s holy. You be holy. But no, we give in. There you’re being judgmental. I understand, yes, we can approach these issues in a judgmental way. But if someone loves you enough, if someone loves you enough to show concern, to say, here, I’m worried about your salvation. I’m worried about are you bearing the image of God? It may hurt at first, but ultimately I hope you can thank them.

You can thank God for them. They’re just trying to help you be the child of God. God made you.

Because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with them. For you were formerly darkness. Now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the further light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. For it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light for everything that becomes visible is life for this reason it says, Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Again, I lump all of us in this idea.

When we define purity correctly. What is purity? Is complete devotion to God. And that’s what life is about now.

You’ve had enough darkness. You spent enough time in the darkness. Walk in the light. As God is in the light. You spurn up time participating in the evil deeds of this world. No more of that. Expose them instead. Help other people see what’s wrong, what’s right. You by your life show them an example of what right living is. You be pure. You be distinct and separate from this world. You use your time now in a godly way. Be careful how you walk. Not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. Say not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.

Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. How’s time to be used now? Make the most of your days. Not in foolish pursuits, but in coming to understand what God’s will is. Don’t use your time in dissipation and following after the life of this world and drunkenness and revelry. Now use your time in praising God, seeking His will. Transform how you use your time. Make a change. Make a change in how you’re willing to submit to others. Be in submission to one another in the fear of Christ. And you’ll go on to make application of that in regards to husbands and wives, children and parents, slaves and masters. But that’s a change. Do hard things.

Conclusion

Hardest thing you’ll ever do is change. Praise be to God. Change is possible. Praise be to God. You can go from death to life. Praise be to God. You can go from without God and no hope to now reigning with Christ and being his temple. But let’s conclude this morning by extending an invitation and showing you how you can do that. We skipped one passage in Ephesians chapter 2. In Ephesians chapter 2, and beginning in verse 8. For by grace you’ve been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is the gift of God. Not as a result of works, so that one may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

How can you be saved? How can you be changed this morning? You couldn’t do it yourself. Only by the grace of God. Only by the grace of God is that possible. The only question that remains is what kind of faith will you put in that God. We don’t have to leave Ephesians chapter 2 to explain. Here’s what God wants. We don’t have to go to Acts 2 and Mark 16 and a host of other passages and say, baptism. Because you know what? Faith is right there in Ephesians chapter 2. I’m sorry, baptism is right there in Ephesians chapter 2, and it’s about those who have faith. Do you trust your God so much? So much that you would believe that He would send His Son to die on the cross for you, and that if you would submit to His will, that He’d change you completely.

Do you have that much faith in your God? Now what if God said, okay, I need you to submit to me. I need to know that you are never going to follow me. So sit or attack. Now we say Satan’s supposed to sit on attack, right? That’s what the kids say in the song. All right, I devil understand that one, but okay. God said, do it. It won’t make any sense. God didn’t say that. God said, You’ve got to change. You’ve got to repent. And you need to be baptized. Not about earning it. Not about merit. It’s about faith. Do you trust your God that much? Do you trust your God that much that when you submit to his will and follow him, your God will keep every one of his promises to you?

You’ll have moved from the realm of death to the realm of life. You’ll have moved from the realm of being without God and without hope to now being the very temple of God. Do you put that much faith in God? If you don’t yet, I beg you. I beg you, read the Gospels. Read Ephesians 2. Let others study with you and let them see here’s the God you can trust. Here’s what he did for you in his son. Now have faith in him. Have faith in him. Let us aid you. And if we can aid you some way this morning, won’t you come as we stand and as we sing?