Ephesians 4:22 - 24
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Last week we looked at the fact that as Christians we still have the ability to choose to do the right or wrong thing; or in some cases even do nothing at all. And we also explored the Truth that at being Born Again, God gave us a New Nature that wants to make the right choices. And I promised I would continue with this again this week. Hopefully to explore the practical side of "how to" make positive choices.
Well, the truth is, there is no easy way to help Christians make more positive choices and say no to the "negative" ones. There are hundreds of ways of going about it, but none are easy.
For a preacher, it is easy to get up in front of a congregation of thousands and a TV audience of millions and shout at the audience telling them to pray more, help more of the poor, love their spouses and kids more, stop smoking, drinking and swearing etc. That is the easiest route of them all for a preacher. It will play to the religiosity of man's mindset and they will agree with shouts and applause (most anyway). But all the preacher has done is put more requirements on these well-meaning Christians, raise the bar even higher, and told the people if they call themselves Christians they should be jumping over that bar. But guess what? When they can't, they will feel like failures. They will feel unworthy as children of God, and so will continue the downward spiral into a legalistic system of self-effort.
Like most Gospel preachers, I know that most Christians want to do the right thing and say no to the negative stuff. We want to help people make the right choices in their lives, but we don't want to "set a standard" by which people would compare themselves to and thus feel one of either unworthy or self-righteous. This is the difficulty for the Gospel preacher.
I think Paul faced the same difficulty. He would sympathise with his followers in their every day lives of making right choices, but he didn't want them to ever feel like he was superior to them and they didn't make the grade. I believe this is why in each of his letters he would spend at least 3 chapters emphasising the Christian's Royal Identity and God's unconditional Love and acceptance for them.
And so we finally get to this text... This is what he was doing here in Ephesians. He had spent the last 3 chapters emphasising God's Love and Grace, and in chapter 4 he starts to describe the Christian life. Note: He doesn't prescribe the Christian's life, he describes it. Christianity is not a prescribed set of rules, it is a life lived in Love, and that can look very different in various people.
By the time he hits this passage in verses 22 - 24 he gets to the root of the Christian way of life. And I believe it is three fold:
1) The corruption of the old self and it's deceitful desires
2) The attitude of the mind
3) The new self already created to be like God
Understanding these 3 areas are keys to "victorious Christian living". (A subjective phrase in itself!) I believe it always comes down to understanding that there (1) was a corrupt old man that we used to be. (2) God recreated us and regenerated at the Cross and Resurrection, and (3) our minds need this revelation to live this Truth effectively.
So, after a length introduction, let me try and briefly explore these 3 parts of this powerful Scripture...
1) Put off the old self
The original Greek of Paul's writing says the "old human". In the original Greek, Paul was saying "stop acting the way of your old humanity. That old human was corrupt and only getting more corrupt. That's not who you are!"
2) The attitude of the mind
Paul continued: "The old human was crucified with Jesus on the Cross! It is gone and we are completely new people!" The problem is that our minds still have a few imprints and memories of that old human, and we can be led to believe that we are still like that old self. We are not like that old person any more, because we have been recreated in His Death and Resurrection! We are completely New People! And it is in the mind where we need to understand this.
What is interesting is that if you have a look at the King James Version you will note it says to be "renewed in the spirit of your mind."
Could it be that Paul is saying that we should allow our spirits to influence our minds? Our spirits contain the Fruit of the Spirit, they contain God Himself! If we had to allow what is contained in our spirit-beings to influence our minds, living the Christian life could be a whole lot easier and a whole lot more natural! Think of Galatians 5:16.
3) The new self already created to be like God
Here is a mind-bender for you... In the original Greek Paul says to live the way of the "new human". His word is "anthropos" from where we get the word "anthropod". What this seems to point to is that our entire humanity has been made new! We are entirely new people! We need to be reminded of this Truth over and over again.
Paul then goes on to say that we have already been created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness! True righteousness and holiness is God's righteousness and holiness! He made us Holy! He made us Righteous! What He says goes. We don't need to do anything to be righteous people. We are righteous people! When we believe this and realise it, we will live and act like it.
So you see, once again I believe it comes back to the mind. When our minds realise the paradigm shift that our old self is gone and our new selves are created to be like God, making the positive choices becomes second nature. We begin to operate "righteously" (if you like) from a sub-conscious level. But it is imperative we "reprogram" our minds to believe that we are already righteous and holy and when we do, living that way eventually becomes "second nature".
Friends, while I have tried to tackle this subject practically, the more I delve into it the more I come to the conclusion our living righteously and making positive choices comes back to our minds understanding who we really are through what Christ accomplished in making us New People. That really is the essence of it all!
Sure, making right and positive choices is imperative to the Christian life. But it would seem God wants us to reprogram our minds so we eventually get to a place where we live this way sub-consciously. Not to become self-righteous in our self effort of trying to live righteously, but to make positive choices and live in such a way that reflects the Nature of God here on Earth, and creates a culture of Love and victory.
So for now, the best practical advice I can say is to actively make the choice and decision to delve into the Word. Listen to preachers and read material that delves into the Truth about your New Identity through what Christ accomplished at the Cross. Give yourself to the Word, and reprogram that mind to live in the way God created you to live!
As always, your thoughts and opinions are appreciated.
Have a blessed week!
In His Grace,
James
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Last week we looked at the fact that as Christians we still have the ability to choose to do the right or wrong thing; or in some cases even do nothing at all. And we also explored the Truth that at being Born Again, God gave us a New Nature that wants to make the right choices. And I promised I would continue with this again this week. Hopefully to explore the practical side of "how to" make positive choices.
Well, the truth is, there is no easy way to help Christians make more positive choices and say no to the "negative" ones. There are hundreds of ways of going about it, but none are easy.
For a preacher, it is easy to get up in front of a congregation of thousands and a TV audience of millions and shout at the audience telling them to pray more, help more of the poor, love their spouses and kids more, stop smoking, drinking and swearing etc. That is the easiest route of them all for a preacher. It will play to the religiosity of man's mindset and they will agree with shouts and applause (most anyway). But all the preacher has done is put more requirements on these well-meaning Christians, raise the bar even higher, and told the people if they call themselves Christians they should be jumping over that bar. But guess what? When they can't, they will feel like failures. They will feel unworthy as children of God, and so will continue the downward spiral into a legalistic system of self-effort.
Like most Gospel preachers, I know that most Christians want to do the right thing and say no to the negative stuff. We want to help people make the right choices in their lives, but we don't want to "set a standard" by which people would compare themselves to and thus feel one of either unworthy or self-righteous. This is the difficulty for the Gospel preacher.
I think Paul faced the same difficulty. He would sympathise with his followers in their every day lives of making right choices, but he didn't want them to ever feel like he was superior to them and they didn't make the grade. I believe this is why in each of his letters he would spend at least 3 chapters emphasising the Christian's Royal Identity and God's unconditional Love and acceptance for them.
And so we finally get to this text... This is what he was doing here in Ephesians. He had spent the last 3 chapters emphasising God's Love and Grace, and in chapter 4 he starts to describe the Christian life. Note: He doesn't prescribe the Christian's life, he describes it. Christianity is not a prescribed set of rules, it is a life lived in Love, and that can look very different in various people.
By the time he hits this passage in verses 22 - 24 he gets to the root of the Christian way of life. And I believe it is three fold:
1) The corruption of the old self and it's deceitful desires
2) The attitude of the mind
3) The new self already created to be like God
Understanding these 3 areas are keys to "victorious Christian living". (A subjective phrase in itself!) I believe it always comes down to understanding that there (1) was a corrupt old man that we used to be. (2) God recreated us and regenerated at the Cross and Resurrection, and (3) our minds need this revelation to live this Truth effectively.
So, after a length introduction, let me try and briefly explore these 3 parts of this powerful Scripture...
1) Put off the old self
The original Greek of Paul's writing says the "old human". In the original Greek, Paul was saying "stop acting the way of your old humanity. That old human was corrupt and only getting more corrupt. That's not who you are!"
2) The attitude of the mind
Paul continued: "The old human was crucified with Jesus on the Cross! It is gone and we are completely new people!" The problem is that our minds still have a few imprints and memories of that old human, and we can be led to believe that we are still like that old self. We are not like that old person any more, because we have been recreated in His Death and Resurrection! We are completely New People! And it is in the mind where we need to understand this.
What is interesting is that if you have a look at the King James Version you will note it says to be "renewed in the spirit of your mind."
Could it be that Paul is saying that we should allow our spirits to influence our minds? Our spirits contain the Fruit of the Spirit, they contain God Himself! If we had to allow what is contained in our spirit-beings to influence our minds, living the Christian life could be a whole lot easier and a whole lot more natural! Think of Galatians 5:16.
3) The new self already created to be like God
Here is a mind-bender for you... In the original Greek Paul says to live the way of the "new human". His word is "anthropos" from where we get the word "anthropod". What this seems to point to is that our entire humanity has been made new! We are entirely new people! We need to be reminded of this Truth over and over again.
Paul then goes on to say that we have already been created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness! True righteousness and holiness is God's righteousness and holiness! He made us Holy! He made us Righteous! What He says goes. We don't need to do anything to be righteous people. We are righteous people! When we believe this and realise it, we will live and act like it.
So you see, once again I believe it comes back to the mind. When our minds realise the paradigm shift that our old self is gone and our new selves are created to be like God, making the positive choices becomes second nature. We begin to operate "righteously" (if you like) from a sub-conscious level. But it is imperative we "reprogram" our minds to believe that we are already righteous and holy and when we do, living that way eventually becomes "second nature".
Friends, while I have tried to tackle this subject practically, the more I delve into it the more I come to the conclusion our living righteously and making positive choices comes back to our minds understanding who we really are through what Christ accomplished in making us New People. That really is the essence of it all!
Sure, making right and positive choices is imperative to the Christian life. But it would seem God wants us to reprogram our minds so we eventually get to a place where we live this way sub-consciously. Not to become self-righteous in our self effort of trying to live righteously, but to make positive choices and live in such a way that reflects the Nature of God here on Earth, and creates a culture of Love and victory.
So for now, the best practical advice I can say is to actively make the choice and decision to delve into the Word. Listen to preachers and read material that delves into the Truth about your New Identity through what Christ accomplished at the Cross. Give yourself to the Word, and reprogram that mind to live in the way God created you to live!
As always, your thoughts and opinions are appreciated.
Have a blessed week!
In His Grace,
James
