Despite
freezing temperatures across much of the nation, baseball season has
begun. Those who’ve endured tough
winters see it as a sign of hope.
Two rookies
took the field for the opening game of the 1954 season. The Milwaukee Braves and the Cincinnati
Redlegs (as they were known then) were playing.
One of the
rookies, the Red’s Jim Greengrass, thrilled the crowd with his skill. He was clearly the hero of the day. The other rookie didn’t have such a great
day. He went 0 for 5. Doubtless some of the Braves’ fans must have
wondered if he would last long on the team.
But inside that rookie there was a great player; in time, Hank Aaron
would become what he was.
In Ephesians
4:17-24, Paul called upon the Ephesians to become what they already were. Here’s the passage in the Contemporary
English Version:
17 So I tell you and
encourage you in the Lord’s name not to live any longer like other people in
the world—like stupid, godless people. 18 Their
minds are in the dark, and they are stubborn and ignorant and have missed out
on the life that comes from God. They no longer have any feelings about what is
right, 19 and they are so greedy that they do all
kinds of indecent things.
20-21 But that isn’t
what you were taught about Jesus Christ. He is the truth, and you heard about
him and learned about him. 22 You were told that
your foolish desires will destroy you and that you must give up your old way of
life with all its bad habits. 23 Let the Spirit
change your way of thinking 24 and make you into a
new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be
truly holy.
We can only be
fulfilled as Christians if we become all that God wants us to be. And that calls for a new way of living. Before we can do that we must remember
There is
a way of life we must abandon.
It is a life
rooted in rebellion. Paul draws a dark
picture of the human condition. The
structure of Paul’s argument leads back to its cause—something wrong deep
within the human soul. Literally, it is a
“hardening of the heart” (ASV). The key
word is used to describe a callous.
Instead of being soft and tender, open to God’s promptings, the
unredeemed heart is hard, implacable.
Listen to alternative translations.
Because of this heart condition
-- “They no
longer have any feelings about what is right….”
-- “They have
lost ·all feeling of shame….”
-- “Nothing
makes them ashamed anymore.”
-- “Since
they’ve lost all natural feelings, they … stop at nothing to
satisfy their impure appetites.”
-- “In their
spiritual apathy they have become callous and past
feeling and reckless and have abandoned themselves to
unbridled sensuality….”
If you’re like
me, you read that and want to cry, “I object.
People aren’t like that.” Then, I
read of child abuse, human trafficking,
governments poisoning their own people, corporations betraying faithful workers
to avoid paying pensions, church officials covering-up heinous behavior to save
the reputations of “respected” clergy and I realize the chance the lodging a
successful libel charge against Paul is slim.
No, the Christian view of human sin does not insist we are all as bad as
we might be but is does warn that we all have the potential to become spiritual
sociopaths.
Many look at
the human condition and utter one word: “Hopeless.”
The church
responds with one word: “Grace.”
Remember what
Paul said in chapter two: “We were dead…but God who is rich in mercy…made us
alive—we are saved by grace!”
Realizing we
are beneficiaries of God’s grace makes us want to become all God wants us to
be. To do that we must realize…
There is
a way of life to which we should aspire.
This way of
life flows from a Christ-centered relationship with God (vss. 20-24). Paul uses a powerful metaphor to describe
what must happen for this life to be a reality.
We must put on Christ; Phillips translates the command as “Put on the
fresh clean clothes of a new life.” This
leads to a transformation in which you increasingly become what you are—God’s
new person. And, as each of us becomes a
new person, we will together become God’s new people.
In the rest of
the letter, Paul will give us more details about what this way of life looks
like. For now he tells us there are two
steps we must take to attain that new way of living.
We must be willing to be trained.
Paul asks the
Ephesians to recall what they have been taught.
What he says implies the importance of formal instruction for the
church. We know the Ephesian church had benefited by some great teachers. Paul, Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila had been
there to help instruct the believers.
(In time, Timothy and John would be there.) They laid a great foundation for
understanding the Faith. But, of course,
Paul has said that Christ had given his churches the gift of “pastor-teachers”
so, even those congregations who did not have such famous teachers in their
pulpits were able to receive needed instruction.
Doubtless this
teaching included elements of admonition and instruction. In Colossians 1:28, Paul gives us insight
into the program and aim of these “pastor-teacher.”
We proclaim Him, warning and instructing
everyone in all wisdom [that is, with comprehensive insight into the word and
purposes of God], so that we may present every person complete in Christ
[mature, fully trained, and perfect in Him]
We live in a
time when we are not so willing to be trained. Years ago a mother explained
that her teenaged daughter had stopped going to Sunday school because her
teacher didn’t let her talk in class. I
knew the teacher and doubted she had imposed a “gag order” on her students and
I also knew the daughter, so I said, “Maybe your daughter tries to talk too
much and the teacher feels there are some things she might benefit from
learning.”
“No, no,” the
mother said, “my daughter is very insightful.
I doubt the teacher (who happened to be at least three time the girl’s
age) is saying anything she doesn’t already know.”
We very much
want to remain ignorant about our ignorance.
If we go to
hear sermons, we want to be made to feel good, not called to repentance. We want our opinions endorsed, not to have
our thinking challenged. Even in the
Christian heart there remain vestiges of rebellion. Rebel hearts are often
proud hearts.
That’s why Paul
says that in addition to being willing to be trained, we must be willing to be transformed.
Such a
transformation calls for “a spiritual revolution” (JBPhillips) and that is the
work of the Holy Spirit. We must “let
the Spirit change [our] way of thinking” (23). It will affect our entire
being. Its goal is the development of
“Godlinesss.” Our character reflects the
character of God.
Here Paul
focuses on two evidences this transformation is taking place. We begin to demonstrate “goodness” and
“holiness.” This transformation moves us
on toward being like Christ.
We need faith
and patience as the Spirit accomplishes this transformation. Arthur Patzia
comments on the word Paul uses for this transforming work: “Ananeousthai is a present infinitive,
thus indicating that creation in Godlikeness is a continuing process even
though it is an established fact. Here
is another reminder to believers that they must become
what they are.”
Are you willing
to be transformed?
Someone has
said that Christians failing to live as Christians is a greater impediment to
the gospel being accepted than atheism.
There is too much truth in that statement for us to completely deny
it. Yet, if non-Christians expect
Christians to be perfect, they will inevitably be disappointed.
Our task may
include helping them understand that each Christian is a work in progress. We are “God’s workmanship” (2:10) but God
isn’t finished with us yet.
At the same
time, perhaps we need to point to those whose lives have been changed. Point to the terrorist who lives peaceably
with those he once hated, point to the drug addict who is now liberated from
her slavery, point to the bitter racist who now loves all for whom Christ
died. One of the greatest evidences for the
gospel is the millions of men and women who—by God’s grace—are becoming what
they are, God’s new people.
