Please turn with me to Ephesians 4 - starting at verse 17.

Last Tuesday we had an election.  I hope all of you that were able went out and voted.  Of all the different issues and people on the ballot - what really concerned me the most was Prop 73 - parental notification prior to a minor daughter obtaining an abortion.

First off, it deeply concerns me that it didn’t pass.  But second, what in my mind - what is really troubling is that the issue even needs to come up for a vote - that the issue would even need to be discussed at all.  What kind of society do we live in where children are allowed to kill children and that’s considered normal?  Where parents and the family unit are considered a threat to children?

Do you ever look at our society - maybe even all the stuff that’s happening in the world - all the conflicting ideas and concepts that are thrown at us from all over - and just wonder at it all?  There’s so much confusion and hurt around us.

The Apostle Paul - in what we’re going to look at today - has some very definite things to say about what it means to walk the walk - to live as a Christian in this society which is often confusing - baffling - bewildering.

Ephesians 4:17:  So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord - Which is Paul’s way of saying that he didn’t just make this up.  It’s not human reasoning he sharing.  What he’s about to say comes straight from the mind and heart of God - So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk - Gentiles here meaning nations - the peoples of the world - I’m saying this to you so that you don’t live like everyone else in the world lives - in the futility of their mind 

Pause there.  We need to understand what Paul means by that, “in the futility of their mind.”

I heard about a cartoon where there’s a group of Martians that are observing us Earthlings running around - busily engaged in nothing.  One Martian asks, “What are they doing?”  The other one answers, “They’re going.”  The first one says, “Going where?”  The second one answers, “Oh, They’re not going anywhere.  They’re just going.” (1)

That’s futility.  There’s no purpose to it.

Phillips - in his paraphrase of this verse puts it this way - “Do not live any longer as the Gentiles live.  For they live blindfold in a world of illusion.” (2)

Fallen humankind prides itself in our ability to reason - our growing knowledge of things - our understanding of things - all that we’ve been able to devise and create.  We point with great pride to our technological achievements - our modern society - our systems of government and law and commerce.  The forward progress of humanity and our ability to manipulate the world around us.  What humankind has done is impressive - clever - startling - provocative.  But, pointless.

There’s a nagging question that sits in the back of our minds.  Just kind of sits there and thinking about it bothers us.  Do you know what that question is?

Why - with all this advanced technological society that we’ve built - with all this forward progress - why do things seem to be getting worse?  Why are abuse and promiscuity and perversion so prominent in our society?  Why is the moral fabric of our society unraveling?

The answer is offensive.  Paul is blunt.  Man - priding himself - or herself - in our own knowledge and reason - is only an exercise in futility.

Paul writes that God’s people are not to live caught up in that futility.  We’re “to walk no longer as the Gentiles walk.” 

Over the last few Sundays we’ve talked about being a spiritual battle - a world at war - Satan and God - demons and angels - a spiritual battle with eternal consequences - the eternal destiny of humankind.  Can you see in what Paul writes why there’s this basic animosity between the world and the church?

John writes - 1 John 2:15:  Do not love the world nor the things in the world - that includes how the world thinks - If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him.  Loving God and thinking like the world are diametric opposites - two different and opposite things.

James writes - James 4:4  “friendship with the world is hostility towards God.”  Thinking like the world puts us in direct conflict with God.

Jesus said, “That which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15)

Grab onto this truth.  If we follow Jesus Christ our fundamental outlook on life must be different - dramatically changed from how we used to look at life.  Christianity is not a different set of moral ethics or a different religious tradition among many.  Christianity is a radically different - diametrically opposed - revolutionary - unique perspective of life which comes direct from the mind of God.

Verse 18 - Paul gives a description what happens to us when we’re caught up in the world’s mindset.  Verse 18:  being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts.

There’s an order of descent here.  First, darkened understanding.

Last summer - when we were on vacation up in Oregon - we visited the Oregon Caves.  Anyone been there?  Passageway after passageway - chamber after chamber - all kinds of rock and mineral formations.  Stalactites and stalagmites.  Stalactites are those things that what?  Hang from the ceiling - right?  They hang tight.

They took us hundreds of feet into the earth and then turned the lights off.  Absolute darkness.  Your hand is right up in front of your eyes and there’s no chance of seeing it.  How in the world - given that darkness - would anybody find their way out?

Truth is light.  Ignorance is darkness.  That’s the metaphor.  Right?  Man without God hopelessly groping around in the dark.  We’re blinded.  We don’t see things as they really are.

Humankind - with all our cleverness - we’re so self deluded that we don’t realize how lost in darkness we are.  Trusting ourselves we grope around in the dark.  We create a wisdom where good - the things of God - good is considered evil - and evil - the Satan inspired things we trust in - evil is called good.  Isn’t that true today?

That leads to the next step down - Paul writes that we exclude ourselves from life with God.

If you stick a thousand monkeys in front of a thousand PCs - given enough time they’ll type out all the great works of literature.  Have you heard that?  All humankind needs is enough time.  Eventually we’ll work out all the answers to all our problems.  Who needs God?  God is something we created to meet our needs.

Then, Paul writes, the next step down is hardness of heart.  Humankind becomes more confirmed in our rejection of God.  Rather than stopping and looking at this honestly - turning to God - humankind just urges the monkeys to type faster.  Put more monkeys on the job - trying to find a way out for us.  But, the faster we type - the more we move away from God - the darker and emptier life becomes.  Isn’t that true today?

The Austrian psychologist Carl Jung, wrote, “Those psychiatrists who are not superficial have come to the conclusion that the vast neurotic misery of the world could be termed neurosis of emptiness.  Men cut themselves off from the root of their being, from God, and then life turns empty, inane, meaningless, without purpose.  So when God goes, goal goes.  When goal goes, meaning goes.  When meaning goes, value goes, and life turns dead on our hands.” (3)

Verse 19:  Paul gives the results - the bottom line of the descent:  And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

Go home - preferably not now - go home - open the newspaper - go online - turn on the TV - put verse 19 next to what you’re looking at.  What Paul writes describes what we see going on around us.  Sex sells.  Greed motivates.  Self rules.  The downward spiral of human wisdom in all its glory.

Verse 20:  But, you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught Him, just as truth is in Jesus.

Have you ever tried to balance your checkbook and come up just a few cents off?  No matter how many times you go back and add the figures - or compare the amounts - or check to make sure its all recorded accurately - we’re still just a few maddening cents off.  If we keep doing the same thing we’re going to end up in the same place.  If all it takes is a thousand monkeys then why is Paul writing almost 2,000 years ago about the exact same stuff we’re struggling with today?

The only way up and out is to go in a completely different direction.

Saul of Tarsus is heading for Damascus, “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.”  He’s got documents signed by the High Priest in Jerusalem giving him permission to arrest Christians and drag them back to Jerusalem for trial.

We know what happened before he ever got to Damascus.  The blinding light.  Coming face to face with Jesus.  A radical realignment of his thinking.  Saul becomes Paul - greatest of the Apostles.  (Acts 9:1-19)

From cover to cover the Bible is full of this counter-world thinking.  Abraham - the father - is directed by God to sacrifice his son - the only hope for the promised nation and blessing.  Moses - the fugitive - returns to the country where he’s wanted for murder - to the land where his people are the slaves - to demand their release from Pharaoh.  An army is told to march around a city blowing trumpets.  An army of 32,000 is reduced to 300 based on the way they drink water.  The young queen comes before the mightiest tyrant on earth without being sent for to plead for the life of her people that the king’s ordered massacred.  A young shepherd boy - with a slingshot and a few rocks - takes on an armed to the teeth battle hardened warrior.  The Son of God gives Himself up for crucifixion. (4)

That kind of wisdom and understanding - that kind of knowledge - makes no sense to the world we live in.  But, that’s what we need - God’s wisdom not ours.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12)

Paul writes to the Colossian Church, “In Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3)

That’s what we need - to learn Christ.  To be taught in Him.  His truth.  His light.  To go in a radically different direction than those who are marching lock step into the darkness.

How do we do that?  Verse 22 - Paul gives two steps - starting in verse 22:  that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Two Steps - learning Christ - moving in a totally different direction.  First, PUT OFF THE OLD.  Say that together, “Put off the old.”

When we get ready for bed we take off our dirty clothes - most of us anyway.  Hopefully our dirty laundry ends up in the hamper and not on the floor.  There’s a recognition here that we carry with us the stuff of what our lives were like before we came to Jesus - how we thought - what we did.  Paul writes - we need to let go of that.  Not only put it in the hamper.  But, out into the trash - to throw it out - to reject it.

Jesus said, “If your right eye makes you stumble - what?  tear it out and throw it from you.  If your right hand makes you stumble - what?  cut it off and throw it from you.”  (Matthew 5:29,30)

His point is not mutilation.  His point is the seriousness of sin.  Sin is serious.  It demands serious response.

There’s the story of a boy who thought he would teach some sparrows to sing like a canary.  So he put the sparrows in a cage with the canary hoping that the canary would give the sparrows singing lessons.  A while later he came back to see how things were going and he found the canary chirping like the sparrows.

If we give ourselves over to the attitudes and actions of those around us - if we entertain the sins of our past - if were not willing to do some serious cutting out of sin - we’re going to get dragged back down into the world.

The word here in verse 22 for “lust” has a broader meaning that just sexual desire.  It has the idea of any urge or base desire.

A man walks into Best Buy and asks, “Do you sell color televisions?”

“Yes,” says the salesman.

“Fine,” says the man.  “I’ll take one in green.”

Okay, that’s bad.

What do we desire?  What captivates our attention?  What are we using to find fulfillment in life?  To find happiness?  Satisfaction?  All the latest technology?  Cars?  Sports?  Cigarettes?  Alcohol?  Drugs?  Friends?  Approval?  Name your poison.  The philosophies and wisdom of the world says we need this stuff.

Let’s be honest - Christians aren’t exempt from falling into this trap - from getting sucked back into where we came from.

Paul warns us, “Its deceitful.”  All of this promises so much and delivers nothing.  Recognize it for what it is.   

Rather than going on trying to satisfy our lusts - our urges - with what never satisfies we have to see all this for what it is.  Its corruption.  Its darkness.  Its death.  Its part of who we were apart from Jesus.  We need to no longer justify it - or accept it - or excuse it - or entertain it.  But, to put it off - to cut it out - to reject it - to be repulsed by it.

Second, Paul writes that we need to PUT ON THE NEW.  Try that together, “Put on the new.”  

In verse 23, Paul writes about a renewed mind.  In verse 24, Paul writes about putting on the new self.  Which he tells us is in the likeness of God.  Its created in righteousness and holiness.  What he’s talking about is not for us to become some pious - stiff lipped -starchy - pickled in embalming fluid - religious people that talk in King James English - who look down our noses at everybody.  What Paul’s writing about is really wholeness.  Healing and fulfillment at the deepest level.  Living life rightly before God in the fullness of our potential.  Becoming the men and women that God has created us to be.

While Satan is constantly using the things of this world - constantly telling us that we’re less than we are - constantly trying to confuse us and drag us into the world’s downward spiral into darkness - God intends for us something completely opposite - this new self that Paul is writing about.

So, how do we put on the new self?

Jesus told a parable about the Good Shepherd - John 10.  Remember this?  “He who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.  To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he puts forth all his own - leads them out of the pen - he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.”  Familiar, right?  Who’s the Good Shepherd?  Jesus.  What are we suppose to do?  Learn to hear His voice.  (John 10:2-4)

A shepherd - the good ones - a shepherd doesn’t just leave the sheep to find their way through the world.  The shepherd needs to protect and lead the sheep in safety.  All kinds of stuff can happen to a sheep.  Its a dark and confusing world out there.  The sheep need to stay close to the shepherd - learning to trust and follow the shepherd.

That’s why we need to learn to listen to the voice of the Shepherd.  Because the discernment we need - what to put off and what to put on - the wisdom - the true knowledge - the truth about life and how to live it - comes from God.

As Jesus was preparing His disciples for His arrest and crucifixion - His leaving them - Jesus tells them, “I have many more things to say to you - the voice of the Shepherd who’s leaving - I’m not going to be here to teach you these things - but when He, the Sprit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.”  (John 16:12,13)

Hold onto this:  God desires for us to hear His voice - even in the world today.  He desires to lead us in His truth.  And today - that voice that we need to listen to - is the voice of the Holy Spirit.  When we come to life in Jesus, God the Father sends God the Holy Spirit to us - to enter into us - to dwell within us.  Why?  Because God wants us to hear His voice - His truth - His wisdom.

Years ago I took a WSI - Water Safety Instructor class - a class for people learning to be swimming instructors and lifeguards.  That wasn’t my goal - being a lifeguard - but compared to taking a regular PE class it sounded a whole lot more interesting - a lot of time in the pool - learning about swimming and safety.  One day - part way through a class period - as we were treading water for what seemed like an eternity - we discovered one of the future lifeguards was at the bottom of the pool drowning.

As someone drowns their lungs fill with water.  Not a good thing.  When we rescue that person - start to do CPR - there’s a point where the water comes out of their lungs - hopefully.  They kind of regurgitate the water as they struggle to breath.  The point of the water coming out is not to empty the lungs.  Its to create space - to get the air into - so the person can live - can begin breathing again.

Part of taking off is that we let go of those things that drown out the voice of the Spirit - the destructive things that we’ve filled our lives with.  To reject them - to create space - openness.  Putting on is learning to listen to the Spirit as He speaks the words of the Shepherd into our hearts.  The Holy Spirit is waiting for us to put off the old so He can rush in with the new. 

When we do that our minds begin to change - renewal begins to take place.  We begin to experience the new life that God has for us - to walk the walk that God has for us - guided by His discernment and wisdom.  We begin to approach Bible study and prayer and worship and service with a greater and greater passion.  We begin to hunger and thirst after the things of God.

Which leaves us with a choice of our will.  The wisdom of the world goes counter to Paul writes here.  That’s hard for us.   We live in the world.  There’s peer pressure here.  We get afraid that if we let go of all the things we’ve learned to rely on - if we really trust God - then we’re going to be in serious trouble.  Hung out to dry.  Its hard to believe and to trust God that He really desires to do this in us.

But, that’s the choice.  Put off.  Put on.  If we cling to the old we cannot put on the new. If we try to dabble in both worlds we cannot experience what God has for us.  In the words of Yoda.  “Don’t try.  Do.”

Last thought.  We’re called to live differently.  How we walk is different.  In the midst of this world - the spiritual battleground we live in - how we walk is crucial.  People need to see those who do not walk in futility.  But, those who live according to God’s purposes and with God’s answers to life.

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1. William Barclay, Letters to the Corinthians
2. J.B. Phillips, The New Testament In Modern English, 1958
3. From a sermon by Ray Stedman, “Darkness Of Mind”
4. See John Eldredge, Waking The Dead, page 100 ff.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.