Putting On The New Man

Putting on the New Man
Ephesians 4:17-32

As you turn to the text this morning you may remember that the church at Ephesus, to whom Paul is writing, is mostly a Gentile church.
They were a rather large group of born-again Christians who had come from a background of idolatry and worldliness.
They had been introduced to Jesus and had believed on Him for their salvation.
Now they are members of the church at Ephesus and are growing in their relationship to the Lord.
It is to this end that the Apostle Paul writes to them.
He is encouraging them to do those things that are befitting a Christian.

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In mapping out the text I see verses 17-19 as the warning signs at the beginning of the long perilous road.
These warning signs are meant to grab our attention and prepare us for the difficulties that lie ahead.

Our text begins with an encouragement in Verse 17 to be different.
God has called us to be different than the world.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote a similar challenge to the Corinthian Christians:
2Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

We must not be like we used to be, guided by the vanity of our minds.
We have a higher calling, to be led by the Holy Spirit and subject to His rules.

Verse 18 continues with the particular characteristics of the world that we must avoid.
They have a darkened understanding -
They are alienated from the new life by their ignorance of God -
They have a certain blindness in their hearts, only seeing what they want to see -
Is it possible that a Christian could be like this?
The answer is YES!
We have the same fleshly tendencies inside of us and can surrender to them until they rule our lives.
We can drift away from the enlightenment of the Word and we can alienate ourselves from the fullness of life that we should have in Christ simply because we do not know enough about it.
We can also blind our own hearts to see only the application of the Word on others and not ourselves.
Then we are living like the world.

Verse 19 continues with the potential wickedness into which we can fall.
Some have so blinded themselves to the convicting Holy Spirit that the do not feel remorse for their sin any more, "past feeling."
At that point they have given themselves completely to a life od selfishness, sin and greed.

Now we get to verse 20 - we know all of this type of living is not what Christ has taught us.
Rather, as verse 21 says, we have heard how we are to live and have been given some specific instruction concerning a separated life:

Let us look at the primary command in the text, the imperative that is the main message of the text:

Every Christian must put on the New Man.

Now as we work our way through the text it will become more and more clear that this is indeed the primary mandate of the passage.

Let us look for the two items that we always find in Scripture with a command:
MOTIVATION
INSTRUCTIONS

First, Motivation, Why must every Christian put on the new man?

Because the Old Man is Corrupt V22b

Because the New Man is righteous and holy V24b

Because we are connected to each other as one body V25b

Because the New Man can minister to others in word and in deed V28,29

Because the New Man doesn't Grieve the Holy Spirit V30

These motivations are compelling and powerful.
We must put on the new man!
How then can we do this?
Let us look for the practical instructions that God has provided:

By First Putting off the Old Man V22a

By always speaking the truth V25a

By controlling your anger V26

By refusing the Devil a foothold in your life V27

By putting your energy into ministry V28

By speaking only to lift up and minister grace V29

By putting away the old ways with all malice V31

By forgiving others. V32

Some clothes are more difficult to don than others.
So it is in the Christian life.
Some of these items of the New Man are difficult - specifically those related to the tongue.
However, the encouragement of our text is not phrased as a suggestion.
It is a command.
Let us determine that we will submit ourselves to the Lord and put on the new man.

This new man, according to verse 23 and 24 is not a man we make up.
He is a man that God creates inside of us when we take Jesus as our Saviour.
2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
If you have never trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, I challenge you to do this today.
Remember, what I am without Christ is not enough to please God.
I must be made new.