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Do you like the shirt? You don’t? What don’t you like about it? Dirty? Stained? Smelly? You know, if you look at it long enough you will probably just get used to it. It’s not really that bad is it? (Oh, it is…) Do you ever feel like your wearing a dirty shirt, a really dirty shirt? And what’s worse you don’t know how to get rid of it. You may see a nice, clean, new shirt in the window but you’re not really sure you can afford what changing will cost. You even try washing the shirt. On the other hand maybe you’ve grown accustomed to the old guy. You really like the feel of this old, dirty shirt. You know it’s not right, but you’re used to it. But let’s be honest, it’s not working any more. It’s dirty, it makes you look bad, it makes you feel bad, and you need to change it. But once again it’s not that easy is it? Maybe you’ve even changed shirts only to find out that very quickly the supposed new one is just as dirty as the old one. Something’s missing. We can’t seem to get rid of the old, dirty shirt. Maybe by now you realize that I’m not really talking about a shirt. So let me ask it this way… What would you really like to change in your life? That thing, that attitude, that habit, that sin that always gets in the way; what is it? What’s your dirty shirt? Have you tried to change it only to find out it really doesn’t change? Our passage this morning deals with that very problem… The Apostle Paul spends three chapters telling his readers what God has done for them. As a matter of fact, FamilyFellowship’s “life verse” is found in this little letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians 1:5 says, “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.” God’s plan is to bring us into His family through Jesus Christ. He goes on to tell these young believers that they’ve been given a new life in Christ, that they are literally temples of God (God lives inside them and they are to use their bodies as “worship centers” to God), he prays that God will be “at home in their hearts” and that God’s work in their individual lives will be demonstrated by how they live together in God’s church… then he it’s them with the “old shirt”. First he defines the old shirt: “living as those who don’t know God” “Live no longer as the ungodly do…” That’s pretty straight forward. Don’t live dirty lives…even it you’re comfortable with the dirty shirt, don’t wear it any more. Did you ever think what got that shirt so dirty? That’s where Paul goes next… He gives a description of a life apart from God. Listen to these characteristics. “they are hopelessly confused…” You live in a dirty shirt and after a while you assume it’s normal. You live in a constant state of confusion and don’t even realize you are confused. It’s a life without hope. A life apart from God is a hopeless life. “their closed minds are full of darkness…” When you close your mind it goes dark; there’s no change to really see anything. “they are far away from the life of God…” This speaks for itself. “they have shut their minds and hardened their hearts against him [God]…” The farther you get from God the easier it is to simply shut your mind to His Word and refuse to listen to Him. “They don’t care anymore about right or wrong…” Soon it doesn’t matter whether something is right or wrong it only matters that you want to do it or not. and “they have given themselves over to immoral ways” Then being bad doesn’t seem that bad anymore. We accept whatever. Finally, “Their lives are filled with all kinds of impurity and greed.” We start to really like the dirty shirt. Our lives are filled – our shirt is stained – with all sorts of pollution and the only things that matter are the things we want – that’s greed. That’s pretty dirty isn’t it? That’s a pretty drastic and honest description of life apart from God. And if we will admit it, some of that description can fit us at times. We may try to compare our shirt with someone else’s shirt and conclude that it’s not nearly as dirty as theirs, but we’re still wearing a dirty shirt. The truth is, though, we neither have to or should be wearing dirty shirts. We don’t have to be living with that kind of stuff in our lives. And that’s how the Apostle Paul transitions from the problem to the cure! “But that isn’t what you were taught when you learned about Christ. Since you have heard all about him and have learned the truth that is in Jesus…” Let’s stop there for a moment… Paul is telling us we don’t have to wear the old dirty shirt any more. That sin, that attitude, that habit, we can take it off. Jesus doesn’t want us wearing it and we don’t need to wear it any more. Look at what he writes next: “throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception…” (vs.22) Rip it off…tear it off…throw it away! He called it our “old, even nature” … our “former way of life” – that’s how we used to think and live, it was how we were to the bone, to the core of what we were. We may not like it, we may not like to admit it – but inside we could be pretty selfish and rotten. And again the problem is that our old nature lied to us – it wanted everything for itself (that’s called lust) and spend all of it’s energy convincing us that we we’re that bad (that’s called deception). We still live that way at times. We wear the dirty shirt – we live with the things that we know are wrong, and spend a lot of time convincing ourselves it’s OK – we deserve to think that way about that person. We cheat, steal, cut corners because we deserve what we think those things get us. But the truth is it’s selfish and a lie. So what do we do when we’ve had enough of the old dirty shirt. We try to take if off. That’s what the passage even tells us to do. “You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God’s likeness- righteous (our sins are forgiven), holy (we should live without sin), and true (we should be honest with ourselves and God). (vs.24) Another translation of the passage says it this way: “to put off your old self…and to put on the new self” (NIV) And that’s what we attempt to do every time we get tired of what that old shirt is doing to us! We attempt to get rid of the old sin, habit, attitude and replace it with something new, something that we think will be better and hopefully God honoring. Really what we are trying to do is to simply wash the shirt. But it doesn't seem to work does it? We soon slip right back into the old shirt. It gets dirty again. It seems like a hopeless cause, as if we are missing something… And we are. Some of you have already caught it…there is a verse that we skipped, a step that we missed. And we miss it most of the time. So this morning I want to recapture that step and help us make a revolutionary change in our lives. Here is it… “there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes.” (vs.23) We can take off the shirt, we can washing it over and over again, but until we change what’s really on the inside, until we change the person wearing the shirt – it’s going to get trashed all over again. Spiritual renewal is the key.
SIDE: This is a lot different from the way
I have lived a lot of my life. You see I’ve lived all of my life as a
“NEWELL” but what God really wants is a RE-Newal. The thought here is that it’s not just washing the shirt – it’s actually getting rid of the old shirt altogether and getting a new shirt. But before the new shirt will stay clean, we’ve got to change the person who’s wearing the shirt That’s where RENEWAL comes in. You can’t force yourself to change until your thoughts and attitudes change. And they won’t change on their own – you’ve got to have God’s help to make deep, lasting change! Without His help, without using His WORD to make the change the new shirt is just going to get dirty again. So how do we renew our thoughts and attitudes. Our thoughts are the pictures we paint inside our heads. Our attitudes are how we mentally act on those pictures! Romans 12:2 says it this way: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” The next chapter of Ephesians tells us how God does this renewal, Paul talks about God “washing us with the word”. It’s God’s Word that brings about the thought and attitude changes. Here it is: the key to real change is spiritual renewal. Spiritual renewal is changing our thoughts and attitudes. That change must come from (conform to) God’s Word – it’s the only real way to make lasting change. Once our thoughts and attitudes change – the new shirt we put on will stay clean. Put off – Change your thoughts and attitudes – Put on. In order to really make the change you must First, be willing to get rid of the old shirt – and actually stop the sin. Then you have to allow your thoughts and attitudes to be affected, changed by God’s Word. Then you have to put on the new shirt – replace the sin with Godly action. So, what’s your shirt? Want to see how this works? Paul now gives us four specific examples. Let’s put them in the form of four questions and then see where the renewal takes place. #1. When is a liar no longer a liar? Look at verse 25… “So put away all falsehood and “tell your neighbor the truth” because we belong to each other” Is a liar no longer a liar when he starts telling the truth? All of us have seen politicians and others “use the truth” to tell us something we know is a lie haven’t we? If we’re honest we’ve all done it to ourselves! But notice what it says – “stop lying” – “speak the truth” and here is the thought/attitude change: we belong to each other! We “are members of one body” (NIV). The last person in the world you want to be dishonest with is yourself! And we are all part of each other. When you lie to me, you’re lying to part of yourself. When I lie to you, I’m deceiving myself! The attitude change that causes me to stop lying is realizing that we belong to each other in Christ’s body and lying hurts that body. #2. When is an angry person no longer an angry person? “And “don’t sin by letting anger gain control over you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a mighty foothold to the Devil.” (vs.26-27) Look at it again: Don’t let anger gain control…get rid of the anger Thought/attitude change: realize that anger is Satan’s foothold. Satan uses anger to get us into all sorts of sins and troubles. #3. Here’s a huge one: When is a thief no longer a thief? When he stops stealing? No, because the temptation to steal is still there? Notice what the passage says… “If you are a thief, stop stealing. Begin using your hands for honest work, and then give generously to others in need.” (vs.28) If you are a thief, don’t just stop stealing – get to work! A thief is someone who assumes he has the right to something that belongs to someone else. He or she assume THEY deserve that isn’t theirs. What belongs to others should belong to them. That’s obviously the wrong attitude. The change: Start working, not just to meet your own needs, but to meet the needs of others. Stop focusing on your needs and wants, but focus on the needs of others.
#4. When is a “potty mouth” no longer a “potty mouth”? We’ve all met people who use their words to abuse others. If we’re honest all of us at times have used our words to hurt others. So what’s the attitude change? Let your words be an encouragement. Remember that old saying, If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all?” Well, that’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says when you can’t say something nice about someone – you should say something encouraging! "Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them." Paul concludes by showing the greatest attitude change of all – our attitude towards God. Read with me… “And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he is the one who has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.” (vs.30) Living in a dirty shirt hurts God. Jesus came to this world to forgive you and get rid of your dirty shirt. How can we continue to live in ways that He came to free us from? He purposefully chose to save you from those things and He’s put His life on the line so that you can have His eternal life and be sure of heaven and eternity with Him. Remember! Remember! You know there are a lot of things that I’m often tempted to do. There are old habits, old sins, old, dirty shirts that every now and then I want to put back on. I’m tempted to put on the old shirt and want to see how it feels to wear it again. I begin to lie to myself, convincing myself that the old shirt was pretty comfortable – fun. I tell myself that it won’t really hurt. But then I remember how much hurt wearing that old shirt caused. I remember what Jesus did to cleanse me from that shirt and change the me on the inside so the new shirt wouldn’t have to get dirty again. I remember and it helps me stay away from those old, dirty shirts. And I look forward to the day when Jesus comes back and I won’t have to worry about dirty shirts any more! If all of this were not enough – and somehow you or I assumed Paul had not mentioned our shirt…he sums it all up in the final two verses: “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” Get rid of…instead be…and here’s the BIG attitude/thought change: God has forgiven you for those things – why go back to them once you have been given a clean shirt and been renewed on the inside. Put off…be willing to be honest and get rid of whatever your dirty shirt is. Let God change your thoughts and attitudes by searching His Word, the Bible for the attitudes and thoughts you should have. Then submit to those attitudes. Speak the TRUTH of God’s Word to yourself. Then live out that truth by putting on the new actions that result from letting God change your mind and heart. |
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(c) Paul Newell 2003 FamilyFellowship Church P.O. Box 465, Beaumont, CA 92223 |
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