Ephesians 4:17-24
Be Like Christ
People make statements about the Bible that I do not understand. One
that I have heard is that the Bible is not practical. They must be
reading from a different Bible for the Bible I have is so filled with
practical help that I have preached and taught from it four times a
week for decades and still have not run out of things to say.
The Apostle Paul was a very practical fellow. While many of his
epistles do contain great doctrine, he closed out his writings with
some very practical thoughts on how to live like Jesus.
Let’s notice a few in this section.
I. \\#17-20\\ Be Different
A. You get the jest of what Paul was saying in verse 17.
1. \\#17\\ Don’t "walk" or live like the Gentiles.
2. Today, that would probably be considered a prejudicial
statement; but to Paul, Gentiles were lost.
3. Prior to Paul’s ministry, they had not been part of the
covenant with God and so they had no clue what was right
and what was wrong.
4. By commanding the Christians—both Jewish and Gentile—not
to walk like the unsaved Gentiles, he was emphasizing
they the saved should be different.
5. That is Bible and a repeated thought of this book.
2Cor 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.
2 Corinthians 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,
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that
ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable,
and perfect, will of God.
Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who
were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked….
Ephesians 5:3 But fornication, and all
uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once
named among you, as becometh saints;
4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor
jesting, which are not convenient: but rather
giving of thanks.
6. I especially love the way Paul put it in verse 20:
Eph 5:20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
7. All of this says the same thing, BE DIFFERENT.
B. How are we to be different? Paul mentioned three ways.
1. With our heads.
Eph 4:17 …walk not as other Gentiles walk, in
the vanity of their mind,
a. Vain means useless or worthless.
b. A vain head is a useless head.
c. The idea is that the lost do not think about what they
are doing.
(1) Atheist don’t think enough to realize that has to
be a God. There is insanity in atheism.
(2) A first truths to learn is that if there is a
design there must be a designer.
(3) And the more intricate the design, the more
intricate the designer.
2. With our hearts. We are not to have a blind heart.
Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them, because of the
blindness of their heart:
a. A blind heart does not see the truth because it does
not want to see it.
b. We use a similar phrase, "Love has blinded them."
(1) That means they are so in love with a person,
they cannot see them for who they really are.
(2) Lost people are so in love with sin and the
world, that they cannot see where it is taking
them.
c. Where are they being taken?
(1) A "dark" place - gloom, sadness
(2) Alienated (separated) from God
(3) Ignorant place
3. With our hands.
Eph 4:19 … to work all uncleanness with
greediness.
a. We work with our hands.
b. The problem with a wicked heart is that the sin does
not just stay inside our heads and hearts. It comes
out in our works.
c. Paul was so practical that he spent much time telling
us what kind of works we should have and what kind of
works we should not have.
(1) \\#25\\ Quit lying
Eph 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak
every man truth with his neighbour: for we are
members one of another.
(2) \\#26\\ Control your anger (deal with whatever
the problem is by sundown)
Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the
sun go down upon your wrath:
(3) \\#27\\ Don’t give room to the devil.
Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
(a) Keep the devil’s things out of your life.
(b) music, beverage, movies, language, thoughts
(bitterness, jealousy, carnality)
(4) \\#28\\ Quit stealing, work.
Eph 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but
rather let him labour, working with [his] hands
the thing which is good, that he may have to
give to him that needeth.
(a) If you are on welfare and you could work,
you are stealing.
(b) If you are on unemployment and you could
get a job, you are stealing.
(c) If you are on disability and you can work,
you are stealing.
(5) \\#29\\ Quit talking dirty.
Eph 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed
out of your mouth, but that which is good to the
use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto
the hearers.
(a) The word is corrupt which is an all
inclusive term.
(b) It means more than profane or blasphemous.
(c) It means worthless, rotten, immoral.
(d) Anything that should be left unsaid, leave
it unsaid.
(6) \\#31-32\\ Empty yourself of every wrong emotion.
Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and
anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put
away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s
sake hath forgiven you.
d. These are the kinds of works we are supposed to do.
II. Be Disciples
A. \\#20\\ Learn of Christ
Eph 4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
1. This is the first step of discipleship after salvation.
2. Every new convert needs to put themselves under a godly
teacher and be taught the Word of God.
a. Strange, so many people think we need a special class
for that. And I am not opposed to it.
b. But we already have one. It is called church.
c. Four hours almost every week we spend teaching and
preaching the Bible.
d. Who are we teaching? converts.
e. What are we teaching? What they need to know to be
righteous Christians.
f. Maybe what we need to do is just get our church
services back to where they focus on preaching the
Word instead of entertaining the world.
g. But that is not where the education stops.
B. \\#21\\ Be taught by Christ
Eph 4:21 If so be that ye have heard HIM, and
have been taught by HIM, as the truth is in Jesus:
1. Why settle for being taught ABOUT Jesus when you can be
taught BY Jesus?
2. The goal of church is to get every Christian so that they
can have such a close relationship with Jesus that they
are being discipled by God Himself.
3. The Holy Ghost is not prejudice.
a. He will speak to the layman as quickly as He will
speak to the pastor.
b. In fact, He wants to do so.
III. Be Dedicated
A. For the things that Paul was telling us to do to be done, we
are going to have to step up our game.
1. We are going to have to give more of ourselves to Jesus.
2. In what way? Paul made three separate statements but they
were about the same thing.
B. We are going to have to be completely made over in Christ.
1. Notice the three statements.
a. Put off the old.
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts;
b. Put on the new.
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which
after God is created in righteousness and true
holiness.
c. But renewed in your mind.
Eph 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your
mind;
2. All of these phrases are taking us to the same conclusion.
Namely, we must give all of us to Jesus.
a. Everything old must either go or be changed.
b. Everything that we were before Jesus—everything—
but go to the scrape pile or through the fires of
sanctification—even the things we deemed good.
c. Why? Because if we were good before Jesus, it
was the wrong kind of goodness.
d. It was a carnal, fleshly, secular goodness.
Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;
and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away.
e. God wants us to take everything up to a higher level,
a spiritual level.
f. That doesn’t mean God will not use somethings of our
old life, but it means He must cleanse and control
them.
Now, after looking at a handful of very practical verses, I do not
think the problem is that the Bible is not practical. I think the
problem is that most do not like what the Bible says when it is being
practical. It is saying that we are to Be Like Christ.
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