PENTECOST 11
August 16/17, 2009
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Ephesians 4:17-24

“IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE!”
1. Put of the old.
2. Put on the new.

Ephesians 4:17-24 (NIV) “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. 20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

“It’s time for a change!” That certainly is not a unique slogan, is it? You’ve heard it and will continue to hear it from politicians challenging incumbents. You’ll hear from workers when things are tough on the job. You’ll hear it in homes from parents and kids when there is dissatisfaction over something or someone in the home. And God’s people sometimes need to hear it from their God.
The Christians in the city of Ephesus did. Ephesus was an important and busy commercial hub at this time. Paul had done mission work there and God had converted many non-Jews, or Gentiles, to faith in Jesus Christ. Later, as was his custom, Paul went on to take the Gospel to other cities. His letter to the Ephesian Christians was sent to help them grow in their Christian faith and life. One of those areas was how they lived. “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.”
It must have seemed strange to those non Jew, or Gentile, hearers to be told not to live like the Gentiles, but the point Paul was making is that once you become a member of the family of faith, God’s family, your race or ethnicity don’t matter. Nor are they an excuse to live in sin. The average Gentile person in Ephesus did. They lived in what Paul calls a futility of their thinking. That means an emptiness or vanity or uselessness. It describes a way of life where you try to find happiness through selfishness and self serving. They had hardened their hearts against God’s will and so they were separated from Him. Their hardening against God’s will led to a loss of sensitivity as to what was right and wrong. And with their sinful natures in control all that was left was a hunger, a thirst, a lust for more and more shameful sins.
Now it’s not all that hard to see that we also live in a “Gentile” society. If you are willing to define Christian as those who trust only in Jesus for their salvation, calling only Him their Lord and therefore wanting to live in a way that pleases Him, it’s been a long time since you could describe our country as Christian. The evidence of separation from God, futile thinking, hardening hearts and continual lust for more sin is all around us. Brothers and sisters who were alive fifty years ago, did you hear God’s name used in vain on TV? Were vulgar and coarse words allowed? Did they show people living in sin, was there any nudity? My how far we have come with a continual lust for more. Brothers and sisters, who live twenty years ago, did you ever think our country would tolerate and then embrace homosexuality as a God-pleasing way of life? And yet it is church bodies that call themselves Christian, like the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, that are doing that very abominable thing!
But you notice, that in his letter to the Ephesians Paul didn’t address the Gentiles, but the Christians. And so must we. “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do…You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desire.” Many if not all of the church members in Ephesus were new to the family of faith. Paul was helping them grow and mature. He took them back to what they were taught and how they came to know Christ. We’re a little bit different. Most of us here are not new to the family of faith. But at some time, if you are a member of St. Jacobi, either here or at a sister congregation you were taught to know Christ. You were taught in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
Were you taught that it is OK to talk with a potty mouth, and to use God’s name in vain? Were you taught to get your laughs from sex jokes? Were you taught to please Jesus by getting drunk and acting immodestly? Did your pastors teach you look at dirty pictures on the internet? Were you taught to please God by coming to worship Him only when it was convenient for you or that God was happy to take second place to all kinds of activities planned according to your control? Were you taught that it is someone else’s responsibility to fund Gospel work and the Lord is thrilled to get our pennies and claps while we spend hundreds on our own entertainment? You did not come to know Christ in that way. You came to know Him as your Savior who willingly gave His life to pay for that whole laundry list of sins and so many, many more. And you were taught to love that Savior in return and to show that love in the way that is most meaningful to Him, willing obedience. As our Lord Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments.”
And speaking of laundry, let’s do some then! It’s time for a change. Put off the old. Let’s use today to think about some dirty clothes that need to be changed. Examine your life, what needs to change? Understand that sometimes it’s not so obvious. The old can feel comfortable. Football season at all levels is in full swing right now. It brings back some fond memories. I especially remember the days of 2 a day practices. Oh the joy of coming back for the afternoon practice and putting on the still soaked with sweat practice tees and jersey. It was cold and clammy and wet at first and then you got used to it. A similar think can happens with parts of our lives that belong to the old. Words we use that bother Jesus our ears may not be sensitive to. But off with the old. Ways of speaking to one another, with anger, not love. Off with the old. Chintzy giving, the same amount we gave twenty or thirty years ago when God’s blessing has increased. Off with the old. Alcohol abuse as a way of life. Off with the old.
Put on the new. “You were taught, … 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Here’s God’s good news. What we need He gives us. You can imagine the frustration you would feel if all you had were dirty clothes and no clean ones to put on. In the family of faith God provides the clean clothes of Jesus’ own righteousness. He tells us that at our Baptism we were clothed with Christ. He tells us that He gave us this new self, the Christian nature which is created to be like God in righteousness and holiness. It’s the part of us that loves God, delights in pleasing Him, feels good when you do something right. It never feels like it has to obey God. It wants to obey Him. It makes our Christian living fun.
If you don’t feel that way, it’s time for a change. When? How? That’s easy to see with our clothes. You change them when they are dirty. Daily. You take off the old. You put on the new. How about for what God is talking about? The same thing is true. Daily we need to put off the old sinful nature and put on the new. How? It’s called repentance, where we go to our God and humbly admit our sinfulness in general and all the sins we are aware of, where we look to the Lord and receive His forgiveness and where we turn to God and His word to teach us His ways of truth. It’s a brand new day so once again it’s time for a change. Our God of peace will bless you as you do that. Amen.