CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO LESSONS

GOD’S WORK DEMANDS MAN’S RESPONSE EVERYDAY!

Think how you would feel, how you would think, how you would act, if God appeared to you and said, “Okay, here is the deal. If you pay close attention to my rules, if you follow my principles, especially the top 10, then I will see to it that your life plays out exactly as you would want it to play out.”

Initially, you might respond with excitement and say, “Okay! That’s a deal! You tell me the rules and I’ll keep them.” Then, you get out of bed, read the newspaper, go outside and spot your neighbor, go to work, go shopping, or participate in a hundred-and-one other activities only to discover that you broke two of the top ten even before you made it half way to lunch. Or, on a particularly good day, on a day where you thought you batted pretty close to a thousand, you concluded the day with your doctor only to be told that there is a problem.

Whether it’s a day where you batted less than what is expected of you or a day where you batted pretty close to a thousand the deal doesn’t seem to be working out so well. On the bad days you feel that getting it right is impossible, and on those days where you manage to keep the rules you sometimes end the day thinking that God isn’t holding up his end of the bargain. You kept the rules and life whacked you alongside the head. On the other hand, there are good days where you keep the rules and the day turns out just like you’d like every day to turn out.

While this is no way to live, it’s easy, even for Christians, to fall into this type of thinking. In the world, of course, this message is pounded home repeatedly. We say to our kids or grand-kids, if you want things to go right for you then here is what you must do to bring about the desired results. In school, I tell students that if they want to pass this class, if they want to get along with me, here is what must be done to achieve the desired results. And in our own world, you and I are told that if we want this body or if we want carefree retirement this is what we must do to guarantee the desired results.

It is also easy to read the Bible and reach the same conclusion. Just consider the “If A, then B” nature of the following verses:
“ A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” Proverbs 11:25
“ He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment.” Proverbs 12:11
“ A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1

OR

“ Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5 - 6
In short, the Bible does teach that we do reap what we sow. It teaches that if we sow “A” we can expect to reap “B.” But if we read the Bible as if we were simply reading the directions on a vending machine (where we discover that if we put this coinage in and press these buttons we get this product) then we miss the all-important context in which we find God’s rules for living. For the fact is, in the Bible, long before “do’s and don’ts” are spelled out, there is an emphasis on relationships.

Take the book of Proverbs for example where the idea of what-we-sow-is-what-we-reap is repeated, in both a positive and negative vein, in a thousand different ways. Even that book begins with an emphasis on relationships. For in chapter one we read:
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
8 Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. 9 They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.
20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; 21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: 22 "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? 23 If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you.

Before a single proverb is spelled out, we’re told that knowledge begins with a proper relationship. It begins when we honor, respect, and have a heart for the Lord. This relationship is not so much that of a schoolmaster toward his or her students as it is of a father and mother desiring the best for their children. In fact, Wisdom, which is personified in Proverbs, wants what is best for us so much that she is even willing to pursue us as we venture out onto the streets and into the marketplace.

We see this same emphasis on relationship in the book of Exodus. After all, the ten commandments were not given until after God had stooped down, drafted Moses, exercised his mighty power on behalf of the Israelites, and provided for their daily needs in the wilderness. Then, and only then, did God chisel out and present his standards for holiness to them.

What we see in the Old Testament, as you can imagine, is what we see even more clearly in the New Testament. This, for example, is abundantly clear in Ephesians. In the first three chapters, we are not told one single thing that we must do. Rather, the emphasis is placed on what God has done for us. We’re told that God has blessed us, in Christ, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. We’re told that in Him we have redemption. We’re told that the mystery of his will has now been made known to us. We’re told that we are so precious to Him that he has sealed us with the Holy Spirit and has given us the power to live resurrected lives everyday of the week. In short, we’re told that if God had a refrigerator our picture would be on it.

Then, and only then, does Paul give us about three dozen things to do. In the last three chapters he tells us that God’s work demands our response and he actually spells out what our response ought to be in various situations. In effect, he says, “In light of all that God has done, and is doing, on our behalf here is how we ought to respond.”

Yet, I also believe that Paul was concerned about the church at Ephesus. He was aware that internally, in any church, there is always the possibility of things coming apart. He was aware that immaturity coupled with Satan’s schemes, especially in the light of Paul’s unavailability, could fracture the church.

Consequently, he told them, and tells us, “to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit.” He told them, and tells us, that this can be done tactically by being completely humble, by being gentle, by being patient, and by bearing with one another in love. Strategically, it can be done by each one exercising their giftedness on behalf of the body. In particular, those gifts that build up the body are to be exercised so that we will no longer be tossed back forth by every gust of wind that blows through the church.
But it appears that Paul was also aware of the fact that some of the believers had drifted away from Christ and back to their former lifestyle. He was concerned that some had returned to some previously forsaken habits. So in vv. 17 through 24, before getting down to particulars in vv. 25 - 5:4, he takes them back to Basic Theology 101 to remind them of what they already know, whether they realize it or not. We read:
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. 20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 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; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

What is to be noted is Paul’s emphasis on the intellectual factor in our daily walk. When he describes those who don’t know Christ, he draws attention to the “futility of their thinking” and that they are “darkened in their understanding.” Indeed, they are separated from the life of God due to their own ignorance. As a result they are callous, given over to sensuality, and have an addictive bent toward perverseness.

At first blush, we’re inclined to excuse their behavior. After all, they really don’t know any better as this passage makes clear to even the most casual reader. But the most casual reader may miss the fact that this ignorance is self-inflicted. It is due to the hardening of the categories. Though God has spoken to them through creation, through their own conscience, through the prophets, and through the incarnation they have continually hardened their hearts against each and every message. The darkening of their minds is due, first and foremost, to a willful obtuseness. It is due to a stubborn unwillingness to accept what has been made clear to them.

On the other hand, when Paul turns his attention to believers he says: “You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.” Or, we could paraphrase it by saying: “But that is not the life for you, for surely you know Christ, you’re heard him, and you were taught the truth in Him.” In short, this is not the life for you because in Christ and through Christ you have been thoroughly schooled. Or, the old life ain’f for you; you know better and you know it.

Of course, the original recipients of this letter had literally heard of Christ. But v. 21 is saying more than the fact that they had simply heard about Christ. It is saying that in the preaching of the Word, through Paul and others, Christ himself was present and so those who believed, those who really heard, were introduced to him. They were also taught, or they were also well-schooled, “in Christ.” It was in Christ that the one who taught them spoke and it was in Christ that they appropriated the truth that is “in Jesus.”
In particular, in regards to their former way of life and now their present life in Christ, they were taught to put off the old self and put on the new self. In order to do this they had to know something about their old life, or rather be reminded of something about their old life, and they had to have an attitude adjustment. And what was true of the Ephesian believers is equally true of us.
First, we need to know something about the old way of life. In regards to the old way of life we need to know that it was, and is, rotten through and through. It stinks! It stunk when we were a slave to its passions and it still stinks today. Furthermore, it has been nailed to the cross and is in the process of degenerating as it heads toward destruction.

From time to time, I have considered sharing a few of the things I did when my life was dominated by the old self. On the one hand, that should be an easy thing to do since it’s old news. It’s old news and its guilt and shame has been covered by the blood of Christ. But, I’m still reluctant to share specific instances of my former way of life. Maybe it’s due to pride, or maybe it’s because it stunk then and it still stinks today.

Second, we need to have an attitude adjustment. We need to adjust our thinking. We need to continually remember that once we were dead and now we are alive. We need to remember that we have been given the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. By faith we need to reckon that Christ now lives in us, that he is now at work within us enabling us to do good works. We are new creatures in Christ, and we need to reckon on that reality.

In the early sixties, a Dr. Maxwell Maltz performed plastic surgery on a lady who had a tremendous hump on her nose. The operation was quite successful for after the operation she had a classic nose and all her friends applauded not only the work but the resulting beauty. However, the woman continued to think of herself as an ugly duckling despite the obvious difference in appearance. She refused to reckon on the facts and continued to be miserable
.
So here, in Ephesians, Paul challenges us to be renewed, first and foremost, in our minds. Then, we can play out what God has worked in us. We are no longer under the power of sin, we are new creatures in Christ.

Third we need to put off our old self. In other words, we need to stop yielding to the flesh. When the old life beckons us back we need to say “NO!” Granted, we may feel more comfortable with the old clothes of sin but they still stink! Furthermore, we do have the power within us to say “NO” whether in saying “no” to the cries of our flesh or the lies of Satan.

Fourth, we need to put on the new self. In other words, we need to start yielding to the Holy Spirit. It is not enough to say “no” to the old self, we need to say “yes” to the prompting of God’s Spirit. This prompting may be no more than a nudge toward what we know is the right thing to do in a given situation. Or through God’s Word, the Spirit may speak to us in a powerful way so as to comfort us, reassure us, strengthen us, or to give us guidance.

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO LESSONS