Introduction

In 2006, a Soccer player by the name of Chris Brass did something rare during a soccer match – he scored a goal!

The only problem is that he scored by trying to kick the ball behind himself. Instead he kicked it straight into his face, breaking his nose, and launching it directly into his own net – scoring for the other team.

Paul has been telling us throughout Ephesians that it has been God’s eternal purpose for us to all be on the same team. Ephesians 4:1-3 told us that we needed to walk in a manner worthy of everything that God has done for us. We have been called together to walk in a specific way – unified and in the tied together in peace.

But if we are to walk with each other, without getting tripped up and leaving anyone behind, then that means we are going to have to put work into forgetting how we used to walk, and take our baby-steps all over again – we need to stop breaking our own noses and scoring for the other team.

The Former Life

Ephesians 4:17–19 ESV

¹⁷ Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. ¹⁹ They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

Being called to the Lord means being called away from whatever it is we’re leaving behind. And what we’re leaving behind isn’t all that great.

We have three terms to describe our mindset:

Futile
Darkened
Ignorant

Before God came onto the scene our minds were broken. There was no spiritual perception. Our thoughts were empty, we couldn’t see what was good, we had no clue on how to be pleasing to God. For all the world’s wisdom and understanding into science, philosophy, and everything else under the sun – we were missing the key area of study how does one live the life of God? And with our ignorance we were alienated from him.

And this isn’t an ‘ignorance is bliss’ kind of situation either. Paul says that it’s all due to the hardness of heart.

It was a lifestyle modeled for us by Pharaoh. It didn’t matter how much God had shown him or disciplined him. Even after 10 full plagues, including the death of his own son, Pharaoh wanted life his way with Israel still stuck in chains. So let’s just keep ignoring everything that God shows me, just dig into my position, and then I can keep doing my thing. The old way of life wanted to be ignorant of God so we could continue to pursue sensuality and impurity.

God is treated like the boogeyman. As long as I keep myself covered in this blanket of ignorance then God’s judgment can’t get me and I’m free to do whatever it is I want to do.

It’s like when the check engine light comes on. You have a clear warning that something is wrong, but instead of looking for the problem you look for a way to turn off the light instead. Now I have no responsibility to maintain it and if it should explode on the side of the road you can color me shocked as I blame the automaker for building cars that explode for no reason.

That’s the old way of life: stubborn ignorance so that we could deny God and live exclusively for ourselves – greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

The Renewed Life

And here’s the thing, Paul is writing this for a bunch of people who are already followers of Jesus. The old way of life is still current with far too many Christians. We can’t come up from the waters of baptism and think “Okay, all that mess is cleaned up and I never have to worry about it again.”

Ephesians 4:20–24 ESV

²⁰ But that is not the way you learned Christ!— ²¹ assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²² to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³ and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

You have since learned Christ – three things in particular:

That you take off the old self
You be renewed in the spirit of your mind
And then you put on the new self

The Old Self

The old self needs to be gone. He talks about it like some old clothing – take it off and put on something nicer – something that looks like Jesus.

But sometimes the old self is taken off only to be hung in the back of the closet. And we find it like an old favorite t-shirt that we’re delighted to find still fits. And so that old self is kept around so we can take out partying on the weekends. It’s familiar, it’s comfortable, but it’s got holes in it and you look awful in it.

It’s corrupt and deceitful and it likes to hang around and get us back to our ignorant, stubborn, and greedy selves. Even in our attempts to put on the new self, the old self still clings to us:

It can be seen in how we try to be ignorant of certain passages. Rather than understand and be convicted, we try to explain them away or ignore them altogether. We say things like “well hey, the bible is complicated and there’s room for interpretation.” Or even things like “Well this verse doesn’t sound like something God would say.”

Arguments you hear all the time form people who try to justify homosexuality or any other sin in the bible they don’t like. It’s not my place to judge, we don’t really know what Paul means when in 1 Corinthians 6:9, or it just doesn’t seem right that God wouldn’t want all those people to be happy
It’s all a stubborn refusal to listen to God so they can keep practicing impurities.

Or maybe we try to be like Lawyer who his neighbor was so he could justify not loving certain people. I want to remain ignorant of God’s love for people so I can keep being greedy and not have to lift a finger for them.

Paul says it’s time to throw put that off permanently. Don’t put the old self in the back of the closet, Paul says in Romans 6:6 we’re to put it on the cross – crucify that old self and let it die.

Renewed

Now that we’ve learned Christ we’re to be renewed. Another way of putting that is, in contrast to the old self, be young again. Be a little kid who’s still being molded by your parents. Start fresh, but this time let God be the role-model.

But again, we’re going to see that old self trying to creep back into our lives. And the world is going to give us plenty of reasons to shut off our brains and do whatever makes us feel good.

So let’s take a look at who our teachers are.

Friend groups – Marcus and Jesus were always being dragged back into their old habits because they still took their cues from the old life.
Less TV that tries to tell us who the heroes are
Less social media, TikTok, YouTube, and FaceBook that say all of these impurities are wholesome and good

There’s a phrase used to mock the people who are chronically online and furious over all of its nonsense – “Go touch grass.”

Stop spoon-feeding yourself all of this idiocy
Stop caring so much about things that aren’t even real

We need to go touch grass. Because all of the nonsense on our TV’s, phones, and computers is trying to keep you ignorant and locked in.

All of that is going to teach you the old ways. The ways of ignorance, stubbornness, and greed.

Life For Others

So now, in verses 25-32, we have five pictures of what that life created after God’s likeness looks like. Rather than stubbornly living in greed we have a new pattern that focuses on serving others in love.

Each of these five slices of life each have a negative and positive. This is the old way that tears people apart. This is the new way of God that brings us all together.

Speak the Truth

Ephesians 4:25 ESV

²⁵ Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Think about why you lie.

To get away with something
To escape some responsibility
To make someone else take the blame

But now we’re members of one another – united in Christ as his body. And so our lives must be characterized by the truth. IF we can’t trust one another to tell the truth then how will we rely on each other in anything else?

Anger

Ephesians 4:26–27 ESV

²⁶ Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷ and give no opportunity to the devil.

Anger is another threat to the unity of God’s people.

Paul is not telling us to be angry. He’s saying that when you are angry, because living in unity is inevitably going to lead to some clashing, don’t let it lead to sin.

We like to justify our anger.

Being angry means you care. What would it say if I wasn’t angry about you insulting my wife?
Being angry is something that happens to us. You made me angry.
And of course, this passage is used to excuse what people like to call their righteous indignation when they’re really being hypocritical jerks

Paul says that the new life recognizes the danger of being angry. So Paul says we can’t let it fester. The more we hold onto our anger the more opportunity we give to the Devil to use it against us – scoring against our own team.

Stealing

Instead, do everything to support the team.

Ephesians 4:28 ESV

²⁸ Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Instead of stealing, to keep for ourselves at the expense of others, we’re to work – sacrificing our time and energy – not so that we could have all these shiny new toys, but so that we can give to those in need.

We need to have a willingness to share, not to take.

Corrupting Talk

In verses 29-30 we return to how we are to speak to one another:

Ephesians 4:29–30 ESV

²⁹ Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

This is not talking about the truthfulness of our statements but their tact. I had a guy ask me once “Do elders in the church have to be nice?”

We all have to be nice!

Unfortunately it’s popular to be brutally honest these days. Where honesty has suddenly become an excuse to be brutal with people. To just say it how it is without a care in the world as to how much grace is being imparted in what we say.

Verse 30 is an extension of verse 29. If we’re not giving grace to one another then we’re giving grief to the Holy Spirit. We are his new temple and we should be doing everything to build it up.

Forgive

And finally, the new life is about forgiveness.

Ephesians 4:31–32 ESV

³¹ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³² Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

We are to be made in the image of God who chose to move past our enmity against him so he could sacrifice his son and save us. Without God’s forgiveness there is nothing for us.

To be like God in the new life is to let go of the bitterness, the anger, the hurt of anything that someone else has done to us and to forgive it.

All Together

All of these together refuse to be ignorant of our neighbor’s need. It’s a willingness to let that stubbornness go and submit. It’s a desire to pursue the good of others – not our own selfish impurities.

Application

So here’s some actions we can take this week to start walking better with each other.

I’m going to be critical of who I let teach me anything

I’m on guard for the sake of my kids when it comes to what they watch
But for some reason we think that just because we’re older and more mature we can watch the trash
We’re renewed – made young again. So I’m going to parent myself with what’s influencing me and keep that old self off

I’m going to stop giving grief, and give grace instead

Conclusion

We’ve been called to walk with each other, not against each other.