Text: Ephesians 4:17–24
Date: August 8, 2021
Event: The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
Ephesians 4:17–24 (EHV)
So I tell you this and testify to it in the Lord: Do not walk any longer as the Gentiles walk, in their futile way of thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of their hearts. 19Because they have no sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality, with an ever-increasing desire to practice every kind of impurity.
20But you did not learn Christ in that way, 21if indeed you have heard of him and were taught in him (since the truth is in Jesus). 22As far as your former way of life is concerned, you were taught to take off the old self, which is corrupted by its deceitful desires, 23and to be renewed continually in the spirit of your mind, 24and to put on the new self, which has been created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness.
Live Your Best Life
What does your best life look like? That’s going to be wildly different for every person. For some, it’s going to be relaxing on a beach with a cold drink and good book. For some it’s enjoying time with family and friends. For some it’s being in the midst of a fast-paced work environment where you’re constantly challenged. For others it’s sitting down for that movie marathon or a new, anticipated video game. Whether we find our most energy from being alone or together, from our work or family or hobbies, we all have ideal activities that we’d do regularly if possible.
That’s from our perspective. Does your best life look different from God’s perspective? Maybe not entirely. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the things we just listed. It’s not like it’s a sin to relax on a beach or to dig into work. But in our lesson today from Ephesians, God gives us a little bit of guidance. Our best life is a life lived to his glory, motivated by the love he has shown to us in Jesus.
Earlier in Ephesians chapter 4, Paul had encouraged his readers to embrace their differences and work together in the unity that the Holy Spirit provides. He reminded us in our Second Lesson last week that Jesus is the one who gave us his called workers to teach and encourage us in the Word. And Paul says that Jesus does this “for the purpose of training the saints for the work of serving, in order to build up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12).
But what exactly does that look like? Paul goes on in our lesson to describe this life lived as members of the body of Christ. But to do so he has to start with some history that would be painful for the Ephesians and that might be painful for us well as what he says is as true today as it was in Paul’s day. He says, “Do not walk any longer as the Gentiles walk, in their futile way of thinking. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of their hearts. Because they have no sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality, with an ever-increasing desire to practice every kind of impurity.”
The term “Gentile” refers to anyone who is not Jewish. People who were Gentiles in Paul’s day likely did not grow up knowing God’s inspired Word or his clearly stated moral law. As such, life among the Gentiles was usually embracing some kind of sin, especially indulging the hedonistic or pleasure-centered sins. If it felt good and made you happy, go ahead and do it. This was not universally true of all Gentiles, but was very common in the Greek and Roman world. And this was likely the way that many of Paul’s readers would have lived prior to being brought to faith in Jesus.
Does that sound familiar? Doesn’t that sound like the world we live in? In our day, we might substitute the word “unbeliever” for the word “Gentile.” How many unbelievers do you know who chase after whatever brings pleasure (or at least promises to bring pleasure), with little regard for the side effects or the negative impact it has on those around them? How often do you see unbelievers have no shame in their sin but rejoice in it, boast about it, and even center their life around it?
It’s not uncommon to know this. This is reality for any Christian living in this world surrounded by those who do not know their Savior. Perhaps the area of the country we live in might make some of this especially easily to see as sin around us is often public and unashamed. But we would be lying if we let this just be an unbeliever thing and not an us thing, right? We are not immune from this way of thinking or this way of life. This morning, let’s focus less on them and more on us, because Paul is talking not to the unbelieving world but to Christians.
Maybe it’s not an overtly public thing, but sin has more influence on us than we’d like to admit. How often do we let the little Pharisee in our hearts belittle others and raise ourselves up along the way? How often does your sinful anger take hold and you lose your cool with a family member or coworker? How often do we let stress and pressure control how we speak to or around other people? How often do you just stop being mindful of sin and just let it be part of your day-to-day life?
It doesn’t take a whole lot of soul searching to know that Paul really has us in the crosshairs, right? Certainty his words apply to plenty of other people, but remember that Paul is not talking to other people, he’s talking to Christians. He’s talking to you and to me. Should we embrace sin like someone who doesn’t know the gospel? Should we live our lives as indistinguishable from the people in the world around us who have no connection to Christ? Absolutely not!
And that’s Paul’s point: But you did not learn Christ in that way, if indeed you have heard of him and were taught in him (since the truth is in Jesus). You do not know Jesus as one who endorses or allows sin, because he doesn’t. You know the truth. You know that God hates sin and punishes it in hell. Sin is never a “pet,” it’s never cute or harmless. Sin is always dangerous because sin always negatively affects your relationship with God. Sin is always an attack on your Creator.
But you have learned about Christ. You know what Jesus did and why he did it. He came to this world because we were those who embraced sin without shame, because we were people who would proudly march straight into hell because we wanted to do what we wanted to do. And Jesus could not have us endure that punishment that we had brought on ourselves. So Jesus intervened and took the judgement our sins deserved on himself. He rescued us from our sins because he loved us and because that’s what he promised to do.
So you are free from sin! You are free from the power of the devil! You are free from eternal death in hell! Your freedom is not some ideological concept but reality given to you by Jesus’ life and death and then proven by his resurrection. There is nothing left to pay or do; heaven is yours!
However, until God brings us to that heavenly home, we have a battle we face every moment of every day. We were born with sinful natures that we inherited from our parents. The sinful nature is the part of us that hates God and loves sin, embracing it without shame. But when God brought us to faith in Jesus, when we learned about the truth of Jesus’ work for us, God gave us something new. We have a new man or new self inside of us now, our faith which expresses itself in gratitude to God. We were created in God’s image in the beginning but lost that image of God, that harmony with God, in our sin. But the new self is the beginning of the restoration of that image of God within us. The new self directly combats the sinful nature. While the sinful nature only wants to sin, the new self only wants to do what is right to thank God for what he’s done for us.
Oh how we long to let the new self reign supreme and to have the sinful nature done away with forever! We long for that because we know that living as the new self wants to live—thanking God with a life filled with good works—is truly living our best life! But living that best life will always be a struggle until God brings us to himself. That’s why Paul gives the encouragement that we continue to strip off the sinful nature and give reign to the new self: As far as your former way of life is concerned, you were taught to take off the old self, which is corrupted by its deceitful desires, and to be renewed continually in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new self, which has been created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness. The new self is strengthened by contact with God’s Word and the sacraments. In our battle over sin in our lives, there is no better weapon, no better source of strength, than God’s inspired promises and fulfillments.
But this also gives us insight into the people around us. We said earlier that we want to focus on us and not on them, but how do Paul’s reminders help us as we navigate in this corrupted world and share Jesus with those around us? What should we expect of our unbelieving neighbors, friends, family, coworkers, even strangers around us? Should we expect that they live lives that look like what God expects? Hardly! Their ignorance over who God is and what he’s done means that they have little to no motivation to live “good” lives. Now, often those who do not believe will try their best, they will attempt to be good citizens and neighbors, but if they do not believe the truth of God’s rescue in Jesus, that outward “goodness” is only surface-level.
But our goal is not that people just do the right thing; our goal is that people know their Savior. We want people to trust that their sins are forgiven in Jesus, not just that their life look like they believe that. The change we are wanting to effect in the world is not so shallow as to only want to change externals; we want the heart to change. So we understand when people don’t behave like they should, and we are not satisfied if people are simply doing the “right things” for the wrong reasons. They, too, need to “learn Christ… the truth… in Jesus.” Learning of Jesus naturally produces the best life, a life of good works to thank God.
So we live our lives as God’s ambassadors, putting on that new self in thankful joy to God at all times, but especially when we are surrounded by those who do not believe in their Savior. Putting on the new self is not only about our gratitude to God, it’s about sharing the good news of salvation with the world. And so you, my brothers and sisters, strive for all empathy, all patience, all gentleness, all encouragement, as you seek to build up your fellow believers who join you in this difficult journey through this life. But all of that empathy, patience, gentleness, and encouragement should also be at the forefront of your dealing with those who do not yet know their Savior. You have the message they need, the gift provided to them free of all charge without any strings by their heavenly Father. Pursue the ways you might point to him and share him by your words, actions, and attitudes.
In the end, do not give your sinful nature run of your life. Do not let it control you. You do not belong to sin; you belong to your Savior who bought you with his own blood. Rejoice at that! Embrace that! Live your best life now because you know the infinitely better life is coming! Amen.
