Ephesians 4:17 – 24 - "The Purity of the Church"

 

We are considering the subject of practical Christianity through the lens of  the letter to the Ephesians.  

Last time we  considered  Eph. 4:1-16 and the subject of unity. Biblical unity is a practical matter,  for there can be no practical progress where the church is not united. We noted  there that (i) unity is given by the grace of God (ii) it is grounded in the work of the Tri-une God (iii) it is promoted by the people gifts  which God gives to the church (iv) it is  manifested in a mature  approach  and ministry  by every member of the church. We have yet  a lot to learn  at Eastside.

From this follows another practical subject - the purity of the church,  which expresses itself best in the small, seemingly insignificant, everyday details of life. There are at least 6  practical  issues addressed  in  4:17- 5:5. I do not have to remind you that the world continuously judges the church on these matters.

i.                    The  issue of telling the truth versus  lying  (4:25)

ii.                  The matter of anger (4: 26 – 27)

iii.                The matter of stealing versus  productive  working and  sharing  (4:28)

iv.                 The matter of using our mouths for evil versus  constructive talk (4:29 – 30)

v.                   The matter  of  bitterness versus  compassion  and forgiveness   (4:31 - 5:2)

vi.                 The matter of  sexual immorality, obscenity, foolish talk  versus  a pure, holy, thankful lifestyle (5:3-5)

Christian character, exhibited in godly demeanour or mind-set and living is what purity is all about. Purity is a heart issue. Jesus said, "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander." (Matt. 15:19). Our human default thinking easily substitutes religious activity (appearing good on the outside) for cultivating godly character (i.e. taking care of our inner life).  It is harder to be good than to do good, and  God is  deeply concerned about our  hearts.  1 Cor. 13:1-3  teaches us  that mere words, mere knowledge,  mere  good works  have an air of  respectability, but they can  also be cheap substitutes for the hard work  of  having the Holy Spirit revamp our heart (the seat of motives) and our  character. Good works and even displays of spiritual power and knowledge without attention to one’s own character may result in a person’s complete failure before God and men. Matters such as  lying, stealing, poor work ethic, uncontrollable anger, abusive, bitter and sexually immorality  are heart issues, and Jesus is concerned about  our hearts  and what comes out of them. 

# Purity matters!

Let us then follow the biblical logic and  trace the pattern of  Paul’s thinking in this text  from 4:17-24, which sets the scene  for much of the  rest of the Ephesian letter. We may divide our text into two parts, recording for us the difference between impurity and purity.

(i) The way gentiles (unbelievers) think and behave (4:17-19)   in their futility of thinking; darkened in their understanding; separated  from the life of God; ignorance due to the hardening of their hearts; having lost all sensitivity.

(ii) The way  Christians   think and behave  (4:10-24): taught in the  truth  as it is in Jesus; to put off the old  self  …  to put on  the new self ;  to be renewed in the spirit of our minds; to put on the new self  in true righteousness and holiness.

Paul starts with our history- what we were, and he presents a penetrating analysis of the futility, darkness, separation, ignorance and insensitivity of the human heart before Christ has come to conquer it.  Why does he start here?  He starts here because we need to understand  where the root of  the human problem lies. There is no point in going on in this text and telling us how to manage lying (4:25) anger (4:26), money (4:28), the tongue (4:29) and our sexuality (5:3), if we do not first understand the origin or root of all our problems.   Once we have recognized the fact that we have sin-sick souls, we need to be led to that Great Physician  to find healing for our souls, to find new loves – the most important which is a deep  and grateful love for God Himself.

Our past – rooted in  gentile futility   (4:17-19)

We note that  these Ephesians  Christians (and  by implication  ourselves ) were once among this number – see  Ephesians 2:1-3. The pre-Christian state  is  characterized  by  at least 5  aspects:

(i)         Futility of thinking: Our mind-processes are mixed up and driven by all sorts of world views, philosophies and influences, except the Word of God. There is no such thing as true objectivity. We are all influenced by something. Which worldview do you subscribe to and live by?

(ii)        Darkened in understanding: When you don’t know something, it is as if it didn’t exist. It is like asking  a person  in  a pitch dark room  in which  they have never been before, to reveal  the contents of the room.  They can’t! Now with regard  to the  things  that  God  wants us to know, our sinful state  has induced  a deep darkness that swallows up our understanding, and keeps us from seeing the glory of the gospel  and the truth about God in that state.    

(iii)       Separated/ alienated from the life of God: Before you become a Christian you are dead in your transgressions (Eph. 2:1). You are alive, but not truly alive. You have no relationship with my Creator. You have no desires for Him. Strangely, at the same time your heart yearns for meaning and true identity, but you go look for that in all the wrong places.   

(iv)       Ignorance due to the hardening of the heart:  It is a deep and profound ignorance  rooted in a heart that is hard as stone. A heart  is incurable from a human perspective. It requires a miracle

(v)        Callous and given up to sensuality, greedy to practise every kind of impurity: When you are possessed by mixed up thinking processes, walking as it were in darkness, with no sense of God and your true origin, when your heart is as dead as a stone, then it follows that the life that you have can only be lived  by what your 5 senses tell  you. Since you are   ignorant of the true meaning of things, and the true values of life as God sees them,  then you will make  something else  your  goal  and your god in life. And  so  you become  a slave  to the sensual – if it feels good , do it! … whether it be sex,  substances, food  or  even   the gratification of my   ego  with   the pursuit   of   intellectual and cultural things  - anything but God, and everything apart from God!  

So, before  we came to Christ we were lost in the  futility of our minds, darkened in our understanding, alienated from the life of God, ignorant  and hardened, callous and  given to sensuality. This was the state of your heart when Jesus found you.  This is what Almighty God, your Creator saw when He looked into your heart.  And until you see what He sees, and agree with God that this is true about you, you are going to focus on the superficial, sense driven life. Sadly this sort of life has even invaded the church, and the extent to which people domineer the life of such churches to that extent those churches will become liberal, descending into mere external, powerless Christianity that now defines so much of Christendom.

Have you come to a place in your life where  God has shown you  the greater picture, and where you have seen yourself  for what you truly are? And have you despaired of yourself? Have you seen yourself for what you truly are- a sinner and rebel against God? And have you been to Jesus for the forgiveness and full pardon of your sin?    

Becoming a Christian means that you become a new person, with new desires, new values and new standards, and in a new kingdom.  You live in God's new society (the church). Your view of truth and work and talk and sexual purity etc. will be affected  and  it  will become  progressively purified.

Our present calling : Genuine Christianity (4: 20-23)

Note then, that Paul begins in 4:17  with this insistence,  “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…”.   “If you are a Christian“, says Paul – “then I insist  that you stop thinking and acting in futility  like gentile pagans“.   Paul further insists, “But that is not the  way you learned  Christ …  as the truth is in Jesus !“ (Eph. 4:20,21).

When you become a Christian you are, as it were under new management. The old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17). You  have a new CEO.  You are  now  hearing  and following the voice of Jesus your good Shepherd. You are being taught by Him (4:21).  And if you are His sheep, then you will gladly hear His voice now,  for He has said in  Jn. 10:16, "My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me; and I give them eternal life".

If you hear the voice of Jesus this morning, and not just my voice, and if you follow Him (like a sheep follows a shepherd), then your mind will not be darkened; your life will not be separated from God; you will not be ignorant about the things that really matter (i.e. whether lying is serious or not. You will develop a proper perspective on anger, on work ethics, on the  use of your tongue, on the danger of bitterness and the seriousness of  un-forgiveness, marriage, parenting  etc.).  This we will consider in the weeks to come.

Becoming a  Christian involves a radical change, and that change is not  driven primarily by yourself. It is made possible by the imputation of Christ’s  righteousness  through the new birth (John 3:1-8). It  is manifested  by your God given ability  to put off  the old man (the old nature 4:22) and  to  put on the new man (new nature  4:24).

In that new state we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness. The Bible is not saying that we must change ourselves!  The Christian life is not  another self- help  fad or  man- driven religion. The Christian is promised real help and power by the indwelling Holy Spirit. 

However  the Christian life also  requires real obedience and commitment to  the Word of God, and if you do this you receive power for godly and pure living. Once we have been  born again  by the Spirit's  agency  through Christ, having experienced the forgiveness of our sins,  it is our  responsibility to grow, under the leadership of the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit,  and  through  the truth  of His Word as it is brought to us by those that are appointed to teach us from His Word.

From this follows that by our behaviour we show to which family we belong! We will pick up on this next week.