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Series: Searching for a Better Life Week 2: NEW

In Ephesians 4:25–32, Paul gives a list of behaviors that he tells the Ephesians they should be practicing. On the surface, there is nothing particularly remarkable about the list… he says things like, vs. 25, “Tell the truth;” vs. 26 “don’t lose your temper”; vs. 28, don’t steal, get a job; vs. 32, be kind,” etc.

Just about every religion in the world tells you those things. So, a lot of people say, “See? All religions are basically the same… the point of all of them is ‘Be good.’ Doesn’t matter what brand name you use, it’s the same product.”

Ephesians 4:17, 19. That’s the language of craving. Greedy: I have to have these … I am hungry for them; I need them; so, I’ve given myself entirely to them. These are people who feel enslaved to their desires.

In another one of Paul’s letters, he says the heart of sin is epithumia. It means “soul lust… a craving, a yearning, a greedy desire.” Something about which you say, “I have to have that because, without that, I can’t imagine life being OK. Without that, I might as well be dead.” The thought of not having it produces despair in your heart! Not just think “lust” for bad things… it’s anything you feel like you just have to have for life to be good.  What is the one thing you feel like you have to have for life to be good?

This is the condition of people apart from God: craving, greedy hearts. And where does Paul say these cravings come from? Ephesians 4:18

These cravings arise from the absence of God from our lives. We are created for God, and when we are one with God, our hearts are satisfied & filled. When we rejected God, we lost that essential, life-giving, soul-satisfying relationship. We found that our souls were starving; we felt naked. We know we’re missing something. We may not even realize what it is, or how we got to this place, but we know we’re searching for something.

Where does this alienation from God come from, and why do we stay that way? Ephesians 4:18. We stay alienated from God because we are ignorant of Him. And what causes that ignorance? Ephesians 4:18

It’s not that God is not there or can’t be seen, it’s that their hearts were too hard even to see Him. Whether or not we see God has nothing to do with the quality of the evidence, but the state of our hearts.

Problem: Because the human heart is alienated from God, it craves sin. And we don’t know it’s God we’re looking for, and we can’t see God or sense Him or know Him because it is too hardened and blackened and deadened by sin.

The religious tendencies of the human heart are not born out of a love for, or a delight in God. More often than not, our religion is an attempt to use God.

Ephesians 4:24 What God is after is true righteousness & holiness. People who do righteousness for the reasons God does it. God does righteousness not because someone is making Him, or because it is a means to an end… but because it is His nature, because He loves it!

PROBLEM: we have an ignorant, dead heart that doesn’t really want God. The solution according to Paul is found in 2 things:

• A new knowledge of God (so we’re not ignorant of Him) Ephesians 4:21
• A renewed mind/heart to delight in that knowledge (so we are able to receive that knowledge). Ephesians 4:23

So, where does this knowledge of God and renewed mind/heart to delight in it come from? Ephesians 4:21. Commentators point out that when Paul refers to Jesus Christ, he almost always uses the term, “Christ.” When Paul uses the term, “Jesus,” he is referring specifically to Jesus as he lived on earth… the Nazarene baby born in Bethlehem who lived as a carpenter, worked miracles, and died on the cross.

In other words, (1) the new knowledge of God comes to us through the STORY of Jesus. In the story of Jesus, we see the beauty of God. In seeing the beauty of God revealed in the story of Jesus, we are changed. It is by being swept up into the story that everything changes. (Why we love movies or good books so much.) That’s what happens when you meet God in the story of Jesus. It’s a story with such beauty and drama in it that when you get swept up into that changes your life! Not by just correcting this or that but by changing you fundamentally.

So, our ignorance is overcome by encountering the beauty of God through the story of Jesus. But there is something else we need.  Ephesians 4:23. We need spiritual renewal. (2) Our minds/hearts perceive the new knowledge by renewal of the Spirit.

Biblical change: The Spirit of God using the Story of God to make the Beauty of God come alive in our hearts.  Only after saturating yourself in the Gospel that Paul has brought to the center of our attention in Ephesians 1-3 and only after the Spirit of God has renewed your heart according to Paul’s prayers, will your heart see and know God and change.

Which brings us to these truths in Ephesians 4:25-32:

1. Gospel change is primarily a change of desire. You do truth because you love truth. One of the biggest substitutes for true Gospel-change is what we call “moralism.” Moralism is teaching people that external behavior matters more than internal disposition. Moralism is motivated by fear. The Gospel motivates differently. It creates in our hearts a love for truth. You might direct people to change through moralism, but you can’t really change them in their hearts.
2. Gospel change begins with certainty. Where do you learn to love and delight in God? The Gospel. The Gospel isn’t simply the entry rite into Christianity—the prayer you pray to begin your relationship with God. It is the way you grow up in Jesus. Ephesians 4:21-22.  The Gospel is not just the diving board, it’s the pool. It’s how you start off with God; it’s also how you grow deep with God. It doesn’t just save us from the penalty of our sins in the past and take us to heaven in the future, it empowers us to say no to temptation in our present.
3. Gospel change is a response to grace and not an attempt to earn God’s favor. All throughout this passage Paul reminds them that God has forgiven them, and made them His beloved children through the sacrifice of Christ. GIFT = Jesus’ righteousness. God gives His righteousness as a gift, not as something you earn. As long as your acceptance before God is tied to how good you are, you’ll always have a self-interest in being good. When you think that being good and doing good makes you better in the eyes of God and others and that you’ll be more accepted by God and others when you are good, you’ll always be self-interested. So, the Gospel changes us by telling us of God’s love and acceptance of us first and then invites us to love Him in return. God could not love you more.
4. Gospel change is intimately connected to a person. Ephesians 4:30. We do good in response to God the Son who poured out Himself for us. We do good in response to God the Spirit because He lives in us and we love His presence and friendship in our hearts. Gospel change is intimately connected to a person.
5. Gospel change is more powerful than religious change. Gospel change produces deeper, more genuine, sacrificial love, than simply resolving to do better. Example: Ephesians 4:32. Not just “forgive.” You could never really do that. But when you are saturated by the love of Christ you can actually start to forgive others & love others like you have been forgiven. Example: Ephesians 4:26. Notice, it doesn’t just say “Don’t be angry.” That’s moralism! He commands you to “be angry.” He commands you to be angry in a loving way. Paul says, “Don’t be selfishly angry, which is sinful anger. Have loving anger. Like Jesus.” Do you see what Paul is getting at here? A total transformation of heart so that even emotions like anger originate in love!
6. Gospel change is total change. Paul just talks about these areas like communication, emotions, relationships, sexuality, materialism, time management, humor, care for the poor, theft, families, employer-employee relationships, marriage, the occult world… not one square inch of you is unaffected. He covers them all. And the point he is making is that the result of encountering Jesus is that all of you changes. If your Christian life is compartmentalized, whatever is happening in you is not Gospel change. You are religious, but Jesus has never changed you.  The result of being filled with Jesus is total change.

So, what do you do? EMBRACE THE GOSPEL

As a Christian … Admit: “I have parts of my life that are not right. I want to experience this change.” Look to Jesus, not religion. Ask Him to help you apply the Gospel to various areas.

For those who are not Christ-followers …The invitation is not for you to come and be like us… but for you to experience the Jesus we’ve experienced and let Him change your life.