A Transformational Community (Sermon at FFMC presented on 20/9/20)

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,^[f] 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.

²⁵ Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 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. 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. 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. 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. (Eph 4:20-31)

Introduction

Today we celebrate Small Group Sunday. This special occasion is to remind ourselves of the fundamental truth that small groups are a key vehicle for disciplemaking. Christian discipleship is not formed just by listening to truth from the pulpit or FTP. Christian discipleship is formed in day-to-day application of that truth in a community. Small groups help us to connect truth with real life. Christian life is never a solo effort. That’s why small groups are important. This is because the small group is where mutual accountability, responsibility, teaching, submission and encouragement can occur. We can exhort one another ‘daily’ (Heb 3:13).  So small groups are not an option. They are a norm for all of us to follow. In times like these when we cannot gather as a whole congregation the time we spend face to face in a small group becomes even more precious and important. My own cell meets weekly apart from Corporate Prayer Fridays. I really appreciate my cell members and thank God for their fellowship.

When we meet and apply the word of God in our lives, today’s passage reminds us that we are transformed more and more into Christ’s image. This is a basic part of discipleship. We know, follow and become like our Lord. Our lives must change! Let me start with a true story to illustrate the power of the gospel to transform us: 

The social critic Dennis Pager, debating the Oxford atheistic professor Jonathan Glover, raised this question: “If you, Professor Glover, were stranded at the midnight hour in a desolate Los Angeles street and if, as you stepped out of your car with fear and trembling, you were suddenly to hear the weight of pounding footsteps behind you, and you saw ten burly young men who had just stepped out of a dwelling coming toward you, would it or would it not make a difference to you to know that they were coming from a Bible study?”

 I want to draw out 3 things about transformation as a community from this passage:

The Source of Transformation (v.20-21)

The power that transforms us comes from “learning Christ” which means we “heard about him” and were “taught in him” in the “truth”.

Paul talks about our relationship with Christ as the reason why our lives change. But he says that that relationship is based on a body of knowledge about Him and what He expects of us. This body of knowledge must be taught and learned. We cannot truly love someone that we do not know. To love Christ we must know truth about Him and His will for us.

 It is noteworthy that Paul says, “assuming” (v.20). Paul here gives a warning. He is saying that if we really know Christ and belong to him, then our lives really will change. Are we really different from our non-Christian friends and colleagues? Does the way we speak and act show that we have learned Christ? Paul implies very clearly that being a Christian must make a difference. Non-Christians always complain that the church is full of hypocrites. If we are not transformed, then the reality of our faith is questionable. James says, “faith without works is dead” (Js 2:17). If our language, temper, ethics are indistinguishable from a non-Christian’s; if we have not known the sanctifying power of the Spirit; if our lives show no fruit of the Spirit, then we are likely not really saved.

  

The Nature of Transformation (v.22.-24)

What does it mean to be transformed?

v. 22 v. 24 Old self New self Belongs to former life After God’s likeness Based on deceit Based on truth Corrupted through desires Created in righteousness and holiness

Paul gives the picture of a change of clothing: we

• Put off the old self

a. “belonging to former manner of life”

We read this and most of us may unconsciously think of dramatic ‘before and after’ stories of converted gangsters and terrorists and murderers. Before they were ‘so bad’ but now they are new creations in Christ. We do praise God for these people! But we rarely think of ourselves in these terms, especially if we were born in Christian homes and cannot recall what it was ever like not to be a follower of Christ. But Paul’s diagnosis applies to all of us, not just to the wicked:

 “¹⁸They 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. ¹⁹They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity” (v.18-19)

 Yes –certainly some people are worse than others, but the truth is that before the grace of God entered our lives, we were under the same condemnation as the worst sinners. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Ro 3:23). At the same basic level, we did not understand the nature and ways of God, we were dead in trespasses and sins and our hearts were hard. We rejected God. We lived for ourselves rather than for Him. We chose to do the things that made us feel good. If we do not think we were very bad, we will never feel the greatness of God’s grace to us.

 

b. “corrupt through deceitful desires”

The desires of the sinful nature deceive/lie to us, because sin promises so much more than it delivers. Satan tells us, ‘God is not good’ and ‘sin is better than God’, just like he did in the Garden of Eden. Nowadays we read ‘corrupt’ and we think of bribery. It helps to think of ‘corruption’ as ‘defilement’ or ‘ruin’. Sinning makes us unclean, unfit for holy use.

  

• Put on the new self

There is a new set of clothes that God has made for us! The primary way we do this is to “be renewed in the spirit of your minds” c.f. v.17 “futility of their minds” of the Gentiles.

Why did Paul not say, “you must be renewed in your hearts”? I think it is because Paul wants to emphasize that the process of renewal is intentional and that it involves how we choose to think. It’s not something merely out of our control that God does, or something emotional. The parallel passage in Col 3:1-17 says we are to “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Col 3:2). Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind (Ro 12:2)

 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (Ro 8:5-6)

 

What does it mean to have a transformed mind?

“our inner self is being renewed day by day…as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.. (2 Cor 4:16-18)

 “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Phil 4:8).

 So there must be a deliberate shift in our thought life away from earthly things to the eternal realities of heaven. We are to fill our minds not just with good things on earth, but most of all, with the good things of heaven. Our words and deeds start with our thoughts.

 What is the new self like? In v.24 Paul says, it is

 a. “Created after the likeness of God”.

We become like our Heavenly Father. It is ‘created’, it is not self-made through good living. “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10) This is so important! I am God's workmanship, God's creation. The Christian life is not primarily one where we try to be and do better. It is one what we be and do what God has already made us to be and do. God makes the new attitudes and emotions and practices that we are supposed to put on. We are saved by faith, not by works (Eph 2:8), so we live our lives with confidence that God who justified will also sanctify and glorify us, by faith, not by works. We worki out what God has already done. (work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, Phil 2:12)

 a.       “in true righteousness and holiness”

There is a ‘false’ righteousness and holiness where we just look good on the outside. We are one thing in church and another thing in school or in the workplace or in the family. How sad when we learn of notable church leaders who are caught in moral compromises. The new self is new in all times and all situations. I’m not saying we don’t fall and fail to do the right thing at times. But I am saying that we keep on struggling. We do not give in and drift with the current of the world.

“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.” (1 Jn 3:9)

 

The Signs of Transformation (v.25.-32)

When we are born again, we become a new creation, with a new nature. We must express the truth of our newness in different areas: our thinking, attitudes, emotions, behaviour and practices. Not just “stop this bad behaviour”, but “do this good behaviour instead”. “Not old but new” Every time we are tempted to revert to our old ways we remind ourselves of who we really are and act accordingly. This change is a process. We call this sanctification.

 Put away falsehood, speak the truth (v.25) because we are members one of another. We lie for our own advantage, to make others think well of us, or because we fear harm to our reputation or person. We should also not tell lies to destroy other’s reputation (‘slander’ v.31) Face up to wrongs, don’t be greedy for money and approval. Paul’s reason for this is that we are members of the same body. It is foolish and counterproductive to harm oneself. In a SG we should be honest in our sharing.

1. Be angry about the right things (v.26, 31) We get angry when our expectations are unmet and we are frustrated. Anger is not sinful (“but do not sin”). Jesus was angry. It is hard to be angry without sinning because our anger rarely is about things that God is angry about. James says “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (1:20). Even when we are angry, there should be a time limit to our anger. We are not to hold grudges (‘bitterness’, v 31). Satan is ever-ready to use our anger for his own purposes. Right anger can cleanse a SG, but wrong anger destroys relationships. All inner bitterness and malice must go. Their bursting out in slander and arguments (brawling) must go. But when it comes to times that the clear teaching of the Bible is disobeyed and brothers and sisters in Christ are harmed and the glory of God is diminished and the good of the church is in danger, then, it may be right to be angry. It may also be right to be silent and patient. We must judge the situation rightly.
2. Don’t steal, but work honestly, so that we have something to share (v.28) - a progression of transformation. Thieves take what is not rightfully theirs for their own use. We should not take office stuff for our own use. We should not be using pirated software. We should not be under-declaring our taxes. We should not be taking other people’s work and presenting it as our own. We should not be intruding on others’ privacy and time because we think we are more important. Stealing speaks of a self-centred and selfish life. Instead, we should take the effort and work to produce what we need honestly, so that we can give back to those who are in need. SG should be a place where all find something to give to each other instead of expecting only to receive, but where the needy receive help.
3. Paul then turns attention to our speech (v.29). “No corrupting talk”, but that which “builds up”, “fitting the occasion”. “Giving grace to hearers”. “Corrupt” here is a different Greek word that means “rotten, putrid, unfit, worthless, poor quality”. It refers to mean, obscene, trivial or blasphemous speech. Our words can destroy people when we are thoughtless and discouraging. We should be “quick to hear and slow to speak” (Js 1:19) so we can find the right time (fitting the occasion) to say the right things that bless people.

 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” speaks of putting away attitudes that are unloving to other people – thinking the worst of them, holding grudges, easily losing our tempers because we are primed to react badly to people, ready to argue and ready to say bad things about them. We should never be known to be nasty people.

 Instead, we are to be “kind, tenderhearted, forgiving as God in Christ forgave.”. We are to have a friendly, generous, considerate, compassionate nature. We are ready to forgive others their faults, because God forgave us our faults, which were much greater in His sight.

 We always remember that we have the indwelling Spirit in us. Each one of us is a temple of God (1 Co 6:19). The Spirit is not a force. He is a Person. He relates to us and He can be gladdened or grieved by what we do.

The gospel transforms lives – it transforms old to new, lies into truth, corruption into righteousness and holiness. In short, it transforms sinners into saints. May it transform all of us as well!

 Link to video here