THE WALK OF THE CHRISTIAN BELIEVER

C. THE BELIEVER IS TO WALK DIFFERENTLY FROM THE GENTILES

-- { Ephesians 4:17-24 } 

Breath Prayer For The Week (A "breath prayer" is a brief sentence or simple phrase that can be repeated often to Jesus in one breath.)

Jesus, walk with me.

Dear Friend, grace and peace be unto you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ.  Amen.

As we look at the walk of the Christian believer in this section of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we find an astonishing truth – believers are neither Gentiles nor Jews.  They are a third and all new race of people.  They walk through life with Jesus.

First, the believer is not to walk after the Gentiles (4:17-19)  “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.  They 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.  Having 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.”

You are not to walk as an ungodly person.  This is very important.  You as a follower of Jesus are just that, a follower of Jesus and nothing else!  You are set apart as His disciples, no one else’s. 

As a follower of Jesus you are no longer a Gentile or a Jew but a new creation and part of a new race and nation called Christian.  Ancient writes called Christians “a new race.”

The point is that you are not to live like others in the world.  Why?  Because you are called to a new status in Jesus.  This passage of Scripture shares seven traits about unbelievers that displease God.  You are to have nothing to do with these.  

1. Unbelievers walk in the “futility of their thinking.”  The person who pushes God out of their mind has a mind void and empty of His truth and morality.  God is not in their thoughts and that is very dangerous.  They are very dangerous.  Their mind is ready to be filled with other gods such as: worldly pleasures, possessions, power, position, worldly religions, worldly ideas, honor.

As a follower of Jesus you must never return to such a life focus.  You must never again allow your mind to become empty of God.

2. Unbelievers walk “darkened in their understanding.”  To “understand” means to grasp, comprehend, perceive.  To be “darkened” means to be blinded and unable to see.  Simply put the unbeliever does not grasp or understand God.  He is in the dark.  He may be streetwise but not God wise.  As a follower of Jesus you must not slip back into the dark.

3. Unbelievers walk “separated from the life of God.”  These persons are spiritually dead and doomed to eternal death.  “Separated” (apallotrio) means to be estranged, alienated, cut off, detached.  The unbeliever will exhibit unfriendly and hostile feelings throughout all of his life.  This will be a bitter, vengeful, angry person.  Why?  Because they have alienated themselves from God who could enable them to live a life of love and peace.  They chose to harden their heart against God.  They chose to turn their back on God and do life their way.

4. Unbelievers have “lost all sensitivity.”  They have reached a point where they no longer have feelings for God and His standard of morality.  They are callous, insensible, hardened.  This is the result of habitually walking without God.  The more a person walks in habitual sin the more they are desensitized to God’s presence.  Eventually all feeling is gone and separation from God occurs.  You are to resist habitual sin.  And with every sin, repent, seek God’s forgiveness and not walk in any habitual sin.

5. Unbelievers “have given themselves over to sensuality.”  The word “lasciviousness” (aselgeia) is used by the King James to describe this sin.  It is a focus on filthiness, indecency and shamelessness.  Open your eyes today and watch our movies and TV shows and you will see this all the time.  Reality TV is the newest play in this field.

6. Unbelievers “indulge in every kind of impurity.”  The word “uncleanness” (akatharsias) means to be dirty and filthy, to be infested with every kind of unclean, immoral, and polluted behavior.  It is unbridled lust.  It is the temptation of choice for Americans today.

7. Unbelievers “lust for more.”  This is greediness, avarice, coveting, craving, grasping, desiring to have more and more.  It means hoarding all one can get for oneself.  It is being enslaved by the things of the world - “I just have to have it!”  It can be food, drink, things, immorality.  Any self-centered behavior.  As a believer you are called to walk a selfless life of service following Jesus’ example.

Second, the believer is to walk after Christ (4:20-24).  “You however, did not come to know Christ that way.  Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.  You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” It is not enough to believe in Jesus.  You must trust Him and live your life for Him or you are a fraud.  Followers of Jesus, those who develop a relationship with Him, have learned and are continually learning to live a new life.

Jesus did not live a sinful life and it is not His expectation of you.  The truth of Jesus sets a person free from the bondage of sin, death and the Devil.  The world’s way of doing things is no longer to be your way of doing things.  You are now to think differently – with the mind of Jesus operating within you.

Your walk with Jesus involves three actions.

1. You are to “put off your old self.”  Your old self is the person you were before you got to know Jesus.  

   1. Your old self was crucified with Christ.

   2. The power of your old deeds has been broken.

   3. You must strongly desire to put off the old self.

2. You are “to be made new in the attitude of your minds.”  This means to be readjusted, changed, turned around, and regenerated.  

   1. Your mind has been affected by sin.  It needs to be renewed and turned around.

   2. Your mind is renewed by the presence of Jesus in your life.  

   3. You are to live a transformed life – walk day by day renewing your mind through the means of God’s Grace: the Word and the Sacraments.

3. You are to “put on the new self.”  Your new self now has Jesus as a part of it.  He is always in your thoughts.  You may not always listen to Him the way you should but He is there.  His presence gives you a new outlook on life.  You may not even be able to explain it but you know life is now different and you wouldn’t give it up for the world.  You are a person who is…

There are two Greek words translated by the English word “new.”  One is “neos” which refers to something new that has just been made, but there are already many others existing just like it.  One is “kainos” which is used here by St. Paul.  This refers to something new, something just made and there is nothing like it in existence.  Jesus, the Christ, makes you an entirely new person – a creation unlike any other creation existing.  Through Jesus is made a new kind of person.  

How is this possible?  By the power of God.  When you trust Jesus the Holy Spirit of God does a work in you that is transforming.  He makes a difference.  If you don’t know a difference in your life you don’t know Jesus.  

The person who knows Jesus stands before God in the righteousness and holiness of Jesus.

Heavenly Father, we are a new race, a new priesthood, followers of the Way, Jesus.  Help us develop fully into His likeness in all we say and do.