Christ’s Renovation Project

 

Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24)

 

 

          One of my favorite local restaurants is an establishment that once was – of all things – a gas station. (You might have patronized this restaurant yourself). Of course, there’s a world of difference between a gas station and a restaurant, and if you’re going to call a former filling station an eating establishment, you better make some major renovations to the place.

          Sure, the same physical structure exists. And there are hints that this restaurant once was a gas station. But it truly is a restaurant – it has been transformed from the inside out.

 

          In like manner, St. Paul depicts the Christian life as a renovation project. You and I once were dead in our sins and trespasses, just like every other mere human on earth. Now, however, we lay claim to being the children of God.

          Yet if you and I are going to validate that claim – that we’re new people in Christ – then we have to be part of God’s on-going renovation project to transform us. Paul in today’s passage says you and I, if we truly have been redeemed by Jesus, will be transformed in three ways: we’ll bear a new image; we’ll have a new mindset; and we’ll follow a new way of life.

         

As we commence our study of Ephesians 4:17-26, observe that Paul takes holiness of life seriously. True, he is the “apostle of grace,” and he continually underscores God’s undeserved goodness to you and me in Christ as the Lord, and He alone, saves us from the Hell we deserve. But Paul is not sympathetic to the Greene County practice of claiming to be a Christian, saved by grace, yet living as a child of the devil. The apostle begins his discussion of our sanctification with the word “therefore” in verse 17: “therefore” indicates that what is about to be said is a consequence of what already has been said about God’s sovereign grace in saving you and me in Christ. Because you are saved, therefore you are to live out the implications of your redemption. And if you still doubt Paul’s seriousness, he also says he “testifies in the Lord” about these things. It is clear, then, that holy thinking and living aren’t optional – they are a necessary consequence of being born again in Christ.

         

          As part of holy living, you first are to bear a new image to the world: the image of the God who created you.

          St. Paul teaches that you and I are to discard the old image that we once bore – the image of the pagans around us. The Ephesian believers, both Jewish and Gentile in heritage, were not to walk (to live their moment-by-moment lives) after the image, or pattern, of other Gentiles. As you’ll recall, Gentiles in Scripture typically were pagan, ignorant of God and willfully going to Hell in their guilt.

Now, we can’t help but have some things in common as humans. Just like a gas station and a restaurant share certain basic similarities (both are buildings and are businesses, for instance), the Gentile converts in Ephesus shared some things in common with the pagan Gentiles around them: they too were human, they probably spoke with similar accents, they had to work and to eat all the same. Originally, they all were created in the image of God.

          But after the fall, the image of God in man was marred greatly. No longer did you and I reflect God’s true knowledge, righteousness and holiness. The “other” Gentiles in Ephesus did not reflect God’s purity, for example, as they gave in to every form of uncleanness.

          Thus the Ephesian Christians, as well as you and I, are to bear a new image: the renewed image of God in us. Paul says in verse 24 that we are being created (by God) after the image of God. This is a spiritual renovation that causes us to live in holiness and reverence before the Lord and in righteousness and justice with our fellow man.

          When non-Christians look at you, who profess to be a follower of Christ, they’ll see something of themselves. That’s natural. We all were created in the image of the one, true God.

          But if you have been convicted of your sin before God and brought to new life in Christ by God, then you must bear God’s holy image to the world more and more. No, you won’t reflect His omnipotence or His omnipresence. Of course not.

          You must, however, reflect His holiness, truth, purity, justice and wisdom in the face of pagans’ lewdness and lies.

 

          Second, Paul teaches that you are to trade in your old mindset for a new, Godly way of thinking.

          Their manner of thinking, and the former manner of thinking about the “issues of life” that you and I once espoused, may rightly be summed up by the word “worthless.” (The older translations say “vanity,” which amounts to the same thing). This is not to say pagans are unintelligent; quite the opposite! Jesus, as St. John writes in the Prologue to his gospel, gives some degree of intellectual and moral light to all people. This intelligence, though, is not to be confused with right knowledge of the one, true God and of one’s sinful nature and of the need for Christ’s saving work in your heart and life.

          Paul writes that pagans’ thinking, because it willfully leaves out the knowledge of the Lord, reflects their darkened minds. The apostle John says that to walk in the light is to be honest with ourselves and with God about our sin, about His right to judge us and about our need for Christ’s work at Calvary. If the Gospel means nothing to you, then you are “in darkness” – and all of your mental processes and plans are shrouded in this darkness. What is more, ignorance of the one, true God and His Word makes men the enemies of God, Paul writes to the Colossians. Here he says spiritual ignorance alienates pagans from the life of God, which means unbelievers are spiritual corpses. Their hearts are hardened to the point of total indulgence in lewdness, for they have long been deceived by the allurement of sin – just as was Eve.

          They might be PhDs from MIT – but if pagans’ thinking does not center around the Maker and Judge of the universe, every cogitation is ultimately pointless.

          You and I, however, as the children of God, are to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. This is the only method by which our lives can show forth God’s wisdom and truth.

          The apostle speaks considerably in this passage about issues of the mind. Indeed, your mind controls your tongue and your body – that’s why it is vital that the Holy Spirit continually renovate your mind, and your inner life, by applying God’s truth to you. Paul says that you and I have “learned Christ” – not merely that we have heard about him, but that we have taken his person and work to heart and appropriated his saving work personally by faith. If we have heard him – taken his teaching to heart – and been taught by him through his Word, then we know the truth. Jesus himself is “the Truth;” to know him personally as Savior is to know the truth about yourself, about this life and about the life to come. It is to have the Source of all truth living in you by his Spirit. And the more you know of him and of his way, the more your life will reflect the image of the God who created and is re-creating you.

          Sometimes we Presbyterians have the reputation of being bookish to the point of egg-headed. True, book learning isn’t everything; but only as your mind is renewed by the Spirit applying God’s Word to you and educating you in His truth are you enabled to live for the Lord.

          So let me ask again: how much do Sunday School and daily Bible study mean to you?

 

          Third, Paul says you are to adopt a new way of living as you claim salvation in Jesus Christ.

          You are to put off the “old” (or former, pre-conversion) man, the apostle writes, as you would take off a garment. The old man is corrupt, greedy to indulge every lewd desire and is totally given over to perversity. In fact, the old man is “past feeling,” which is a frightening reality. Imagine you were blind and your skin could not sense fire: you would be a prime candidate to be killed by fire. Likewise, unbelievers are so insensitive to God’s truth and judgment that they do not perceive the Hell to come. To be so dull, so ignorant, is a terrifying thought!

          Your life, though, is to be marked by walking in God’s way of wisdom. You are to put on the new man, who harkens to God’s voice, who – for example – sees through the temptation to steal and instead labors with his own hands for God’s glory.

          When the Tar Heels play, I’m bad to wear Carolina blue. If I can find an old t-shirt from college – no matter how torn and tattered – I’ll wear it and cheer for Carolina. But when the Lord’s Day arrives, I take off that piece of clothing and exchange it for a shirt and tie, something far more suited to the worship of God.

          So you and I are always to be putting off the old man with his corruption and putting on the new man, who is renewed in true knowledge of the living God. Only the new man is suitable for those who would name the Name of Jesus as their Savior.

 

Perhaps you’ve heard that old canard: “I looked for the church and saw the world; I looked for the world and saw the church.” Sadly, that’s an apt description of Churchianity in Greene County, and even in our denomination, the PCA.

A credible claim to being a Christian demands proof – the proof that Jesus is renovating you.

When the world looks at you, do they see Jesus?

Or do they see themselves?