Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
November 3, 1991
Ephesians 4:17-24
RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND
I. What we have been saved from.
A. Thrill as a young Christian - hearing sordid testimonies.
B. Christians must make a complete break from their former life.
II. Three characteristics of the pagan life
A. Hearts are hardened. 4:18
1) The process of decay begins with hardening, according to
structure of sentence.
2) Hardening leads to ignorance. (related to "agnostic") 4:18
3) Hardening leads to insensitivity. 4:19
4) Hardening leads to separation from life of God. 4:18
B. Thinking is futile. 4:17
1) Note emphasis on the mind: thinking, understanding,
and ignorance.
2) The way we think deeply influences how we live.
C. Actions are impure. 4:19
1) Sensuality as a sign of society's decay.
2) "Every kind ... continual lust for more." 4:19
III. The difference in being a Christian. 4:20-2
A. The old self has to be discarded. 4:22
B. Our thinking and attitudes must be "made new." 4:23
C. The new self has to be "put on." 4:24
IV. The tragedy of a compromised Christian.
A. Jimmy Swaggert and enslavement to lust.
B. There should be harmony between how we think and how we act.
C. Is Christ in charge of your inner life?
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(original sermon, October 31, 1982)
RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND Ephesians 4:17-24
I. Absolute standards are rejected in society.
A. Paul's time the same way.
B. All of us are seduced by the culture we live in.
II. Christians must make a complete break from their former life.
A. Also must be alert to pressures and temptations of world.
1) Same argument used in Romans 12:2.
B. Not advice but a command.
III. The essential characteristics of pagan life.
A. They have a sense of God and right & wrong, but do not let
it influence their actions.
1) Instead they follow the prompting of their appetites.
2) Such behavior leads to evil consequences.
a) Degradation leads to greater degradation.
b) If the universe is really moral, then happiness and
harmony are not achieved by immoral conduct.
B. Three characteristics:
1) They are given over to impurity. 4:17
a) In Romans 1:21 this futility is the direct result of their
rejection of God.
1> In consequence, life become empty and without purpose.
2> Without God, there is no answer to man's persistent
question about life - "What's the point of it all?"
3> The only recourse is to snatch as much pleasure as
you can.
b) King Solomon took this approach. Eccl 2:10-11
1> Romans 8:20 says that creation was subjected to futility
in the hope that this very hopelessness would turn
people's minds back to God.
2) They are futile or vain in their thinking. 4:18
a) Their sense of moral distinctions is blurred.
b) After sin is repeated, they cease to think of it as wrong.
1> (The human ability to rationalize)
3) Their understanding is darkened.
a) This loss of the power to distinguish between good and
evil is called "darkness."
1> Where there is no light at all, even the difference
between black and white is blotted out.
C. Pagans are alienated from the life of God.
1) The "life of God" is life that is free and worth living.
John 10:10b
2) They are alienated due to ignorance.
a) Sometimes ignorance gets people off the hook in the
Bible. Acts 17:30
b) Here, it is deliberate.
3) "Ignorance" is related to word "agnostic" in Greek.
a) Agnostics are not sure God exists.
1> They think this gets them off the hook.
2> But God doesn't accept neutrality.
b) You will live as if God exists, or you will live as if
he doesn't.
1> Most agnostics are functional atheists, just as in 4:18.
IV. Fundamental cause: hardness of heart.
A. (background of word hardness from Barclay)
B. Pagan life is so hardened that it has lost the power of feeling.
1) Our hearts become hardened when we continually repeat
sinful choices.
2) They are past feeling, lit. "insensitive to pain." 4:19
3) In this case, they are insensitive to their conscience.
C. They have given themselves over to sensuality.
1) Sensuality = lasciviousness = loose sexual conduct.
V. Christianity and sex.
A. Common opinion - Christians hate sex.
1) Not so. Sex in itself is good and a gift from God.
2) It produces children and enriches the relationship between
husband and wife.
3) But for enrichment, it must be controlled by a strong sense
of responsibility.
B. The Christian standard of sex.
1) Chastity before marriage and faithfulness within marriage.
2) Use of sex merely for pleasure and excitement degrades
personal life and relationships.
a) In sensuality, old practices lose their appeal and
new devices are sought to maintain the excitement.
b) Shame decreases.
c) Perversion takes over. (continual lust for more)
VI. Christians and lust.
A. Ephesians 4:17-24 focuses on non-Christians, but believers can
also be caught in its grip.
1) (examples of Christians destroyed by lust. Swaggert?)
2) Some here today may be slaves of lust.
B. But it does not have to be this way - "you did not come to know
Christ this way."
1) The Ephesians had heard and learned of Jesus.
a) Two great ministries - preaching and teaching.
b) Strong Christians need both aspects.
2) Worship and study must go together.
C. Three actions resulting from the "truth in Jesus."
1) Put off your old self.
a) A once-for-all, one time action.
b) Indicates a radical change in character.
2) Renewed in the spirit of the mind.
a) Something good must replace the cast-off old nature.
b) Renewal is in present tense, and lasts a lifetime.
c) Compare 2 Cor 4:16.
3) Put on the new self.
a) In Galatians 3:27 it is called "putting on Christ."
b) Christ ruling in our lives is the new nature.
c) Created to be like God.
1> Humans are made in God's image.
2> Sin mars that image.
(Hubble telescope, always a little out of focus)
3> Jesus renews the image.
VII. Summary.
A. A piercing study of former pagan conduct.
B. There is complete harmony between the pagan's mind and actions.
C. Their reason, mind, intelligence and emotions are all under
judgment.
D. Jesus can change us and renew us daily.
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John Stott
I. Christians must live like Christians.
A. They are different people and must behave differently.
B. This passage provides the doctrinal basis.
1) The intellectual factor of life is emphasized.
2) "Scripture bears an unwavering testimony to the power of
ignorance and error to corrupt, and the power of truth
to liberate, ennoble and refine."
3) The argument of the passage parallels Rom 1:18-32:
a) Stage 1: Obstinacy.
b) Stage 2: Darkness.
c) Stage 3: Death or judgment.
d) Stage 4: Recklessness.
