Immaturity to maturity (Hebrews 5:11-6:3)

7/19/2010 CMC Sunday message

My youngest girl started to take the baby steps; I think in about a month, she will be walking; very soon, we will be chasing after her running away from us.  But, before she can confidently walk, there will be a lot of practice of walking while holding daddy’s and mommy’s hands as well as her older sister’s hands.  I also fully expect that she will fall down more than she has ever done now that she is learning to walk. The wobbly, unbalanced, overly dramatic movements of her body, her wide and awkward gait for better balance, they are all part her learning curve towards maturity in walking. When she gets into her groove, you see fire in her eyes. She won’t settle for crawling; she starts to squeal as though trying to communicate to us to come down to her level and to hold her hands so she can practice walking. It is really funny how she doesn’t get tired of keep trying the same thing over and over again. It really is beautiful thing to watch a child mature.

As Christians, growing, maturing process needs to be a natural part of what it means to be Christians. It ought to evoke a sense of beauty and awe as we watch each other take the steps and run towards growth.

But, unfortunately, for too long, our growth has been stunted. We had been on a spiritual autopilot mode, doing the same thing without much purpose, without getting our hearts, our passion involved, simply living off of yesterday’s spiritual growth, just getting by…

But, God has jolted us out of the autopilot mode for the last year. He has brought the perfect storm to our church and we had to disengage the autopilot mode.

I would compare what we have gone through as a church for the last year as what happened in the movie, The Incredible. Do you remember how Elastigirl had to disengage the autopilot because her plane carrying her children Dash and Violet was about to be shot down by the missiles?  Do you remember the mayhem, the panic?

Not too long ago, the family’s objective was to blend into the rest of the world. They have gone underground. Elastigirl was just a mom trying desperately to hold her family together, Dash was a little boy who just wanted to run as fast he could, Violet was a shy and insecure girl, and Mr. Incredible was miserable, bored out of his mind, constantly day dreaming of what he could be doing. But, their vanilla flavor life as usual came apart when Mr. Incredible answered the call to the life of adventure.

There are quite the similarities between us and the story line. They were jolted out of the comfortable, anonymous, risk free, bland vanilla flavor life into the life of adventure. They were without soul, without passion, but the crises awakened them to the life of mission, the life with purpose.

We no longer have the comfortable suburban church building to hold our services. Now, it takes much more sweat and time just to setup to meet together, but only to take down everything. We no longer can lean on our parents’ generation to take care of us. We cannot any longer hide behind the pretension that everything is okay; no, we have to deal with our fear and fog factors head on. We are out of our comfort zone; we are now in an uncharted and risky territory. But, what we have now that we didn’t have before is that we are on adventure together, we are on a mission together. We lost our passion and soul, but now we see something, perhaps dimly, but still we see our hearts, our souls engaging. God is awakening us to the life of adventure.

That’s what we see in Hebrews 5 and 6. The writer was trying to awaken the Christians out of the immaturity into the maturity, risk free life to the life of adventure to fulfill God’s mission.

Hebrews 5:11-14 explains their immaturity, their stunted growth. Verse 11 says they were slow to learn. It means they became dull and unresponsive to the word of God. It means they had neglected to hear from God’s word and they had stopped believing in his word. They stopped dreaming their lives in God’s promise, in what God can do through them.

And, because they stopped dreaming the life of adventure with God, they saw no leaders emerging out of them; no one was burdened with God’s mission; no one was burdened to teach others to commit to God’s mission; and, because their hearts were not into the mission of God, they were spiritually insensitive and dull; they were unable to choose truly good life instead, life was all about them. Because their souls were not awakened to the mission of God, they could only think of what’s in it for them.

Babies requiring milk requires high maintenance. They are helpless unless someone else feeds them, changes their dirty diapers, and helps them to even sleep. New Christians are like babies that take milk. But, it becomes a weird thing when the grownups still suck down a Sippy cup with milk in it and act like helpless babies needing constant help and attention; instead, maturity should drive them to rigorous training to become contributing members of their society.

Hebrews 6:1-3 continues the same theme, but now focuses on maturity. Maturity means leaving the elementary teachings about Christ and go onto maturity. What were the elementary teachings about Christ? It involved repentance, faith, baptism, laying on of the hands, resurrection, eternal judgment. I don’t think the writer is saying these are no longer important matters for Christians and they don’t need them any more in their lives.

A commentator explains it like this. As a child we learn alphabet and phonics. But, it is not enough for a child to know how to recite alphabets and know their sounds. The knowledge of alphabets and phonics become the building block to the next level of growth. It opens the door for a child to read simple children’s books, but soon a child will be able to read C. S. Lewis’s Narnia series, be able to read the Bible.^[i]

The basic fundamental knowledge and beliefs of Christianity need to produce in us the life of righteousness, the life of vigorous training to discern good from evil, the life of diligence instead of laziness according to Hebrews 6:11-12.

Movement from immaturity to maturity is about moving away from seeking what’s in it for you to what’s in it for God and for others; it is about moving away from your own mission to God’s mission; it is about moving away from what you want to see in your life to what God wants to see in your life and through your life. Immaturity to maturity is about moving away from simply possessing Jesus Christ, claiming him for ourselves to sharing Jesus, proclaiming Jesus.

Have we become people who suck up the knowledge about Jesus Christ, but never bother sharing Christ with anyone? William Fay has phrase for such phenomenon in his book Sharing Jesus without Fear. He calls it spiritual constipation.

• The number one solution to immaturity is put sharing Jesus with non-believers as your top priority; as long as you put sharing Jesus as an option, you will remain a immature Christian who never take any kind of risk for Jesus, who cannot handle being rejection for him, who will continue to deny Jesus with your silence about him.
• Embracing the call to maturity also means you and I share Jesus with each other. We need to live out his gospel, his good news with each other. Jesus said that the world will know that he has sent us by the way we love one another in his love. I got some soul searching to do and you have some soul searching to do in regard to the state of our relationships. We’ve got to step up our effort to love and care for each other.

Sharing Jesus with non-believers, sharing Jesus with each other is what maturity looks like. Is there such thing as a healthy Christian who doesn’t share Jesus Christ? Is there such thing as a successful Christian who doesn’t obey the mandate to share Jesus? Can you be a mature Christian if you read the Bible, if you pray, if you come to church, if you go to life groups/small groups, but you don’t share Jesus?  No, without actively sharing Jesus with others, it is only an illusion to think that we can become healthy, growing, maturing Christian. 

Here is a story about a group of tourists visiting a picturesque village. They walked by an old man sitting beside a fence. In a rather patronizing way, one tourist asked, "Were any great person born in this village?" The old man replied, "Nope, only babies."

We were all born as babies requiring milk, but we are not babies any more, are we? We had to learn alphabets, but we can read great books now, can’t we? For years, having spent a lot of time listening to sermons, reading the Bible, praying, and somehow, have we convinced ourselves we are spiritual healthy? But, are we really healthy? Or, have we simply reduced Jesus as our little savior who exits to make us happy, make us feel good about ourselves? Can we be healthy and mature Christians if we don’t share with others about Jesus our Savior, who went to the cross to be killed in order to give himself for us and for the world?

What practical steps can you take towards maturity?  How can you grow in sharing Jesus with others. 

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^[i] Adeyemo, T. (2006). Africa Bible commentary (1523). Nairobi, Kenya; Grand Rapids, MI.: WordAlive Publishers; Zondervan.

יְהוָה נִסִּי - Yahweh Nissi… The Lord is my Banner! Exodus 17:8-16

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon July 12, 2009

Let me start off by drawing your attention to the words of apostle Peter from 1 Peter 5:6-9. Here he speaks about the spiritual reality, namely the hostile existence of the devil and how we as Christians ought to respond in the light of it. He says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…”

There are times when this seems much more of obvious reality than other times. Whether you acknowledge it, or refuse to believe it, or forget to remember it, the spiritual battle is reality. The great problem for so many Christians and non-believers alike today is that they are oblivious to the reality of the spiritual battle. Christians are oblivious to God’s call upon them to resist the enemy, to stand firm in the faith! They think that apostle Paul’s call in Ephesians 6 to put on the armor of God, to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests, to be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints, is a call for some extraordinarily spiritual Christians. No, to put on armor of God, to pray always, to pray for all the saints, to pray for each other are not just for the select few super Christians. These are mandate to all for all of us in the light of the spiritual reality.

My prayer today is that God would shake us out of spiritual malaise, laziness, naivety, naked vulnerability, that he would awaken us to desperation, urgency and dependence on him. So, it is fitting that I speak to you today about God’s name by Moses, Yahweh Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner!” Before delving into understanding what it means to k now God as Yahweh Nissi, I want you to first consider where this name is found in the Bible and see the spiritual reality.

1. How do you know when you are vulnerable to attack?

Last week, I talked to you about how Yahweh tests us, not because we he doesn’t know us, but to reveal to us our true character, the condition of our hearts. Only after three days since they witnessed God’s deliverance from Egypt, when they arrived at a place called Desert of Shur, they began to grumble against Moses and God because they could not find drinkable water, but only bitter, pungent water. It says in Exodus 15:25, this was no accident, but God’s design to test them to reveal them their own character, their hearts. God turned the bitter water to drinkable and quenched their thirst.

And, in Exodus 16, traveling further south of Sinai Peninsula, we see the Israelites again grumbling. There they complained, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” (Exodus 16:3). Again, by raining down bread from heaven and giving them specific instructions as to how they were gather manna for themselves, it says in Exodus 16:4, “In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.”

And, in Exodus 17:1-7, what you find is further south of Sinai Peninsula at Rephidim, we see the Israelites blatantly quarreling with Moses and demanding water since they found absolutely no water this time at Rephidim. Moses questioned them, “Why do you put the LORD to the test?” (Exodus 17:2). Instead of trusting God Yahweh Yireh to provide for them as he rained them the bread from heaven, as turned the bitter water to drinkable, instead they digressed and became cynical and skeptical questioning if the LORD was even among them (Exodus 17:7), if the LORD even cared.

In the midst trials and difficulties, their true character was revealed. And, it wasn’t pretty. This is the nature of the spiritual battle. The presence and the power of God was abundantly clear and unmistakably demonstrated, yet, here they were doubting if God was even among them and rejecting him. Forgetting who God was, what he had done, and what he promise, they digressed further becoming discontent, complaining and grumbling and distrusting God’s presence and ultimately rejecting God.

Now enter Exodus 17:8, in the state of forgetting, becoming discontent, complaining, grumbling, and rejecting God, we read, “The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.” The Amalekites who lived in the desert, south of Canaan around Kadesh were the descendants of Amalek, the son of Eliphaz, Easu’s eldest boy (Genesis 36:12). In other words, the Amalekites were the cousins of the Israelites. If the Amalekites believed God’s plan to bless all nations through Abraham including Amalek as he said in Genesis 12:3, there should have been no reason for them to feel threatened by the Israelites. But, instead of believing in the promise made to Abraham, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. It is instructive to read Deuteronomy 25:17-19 which explains how they went about attacking the Israelites. It shows that they went after the Israelites who were lagging behind, meaning those who were vulnerable. Numbers 24:20 tells us that they were first among the nations to attack Israel.

As in 1 Peter 5:6-9 which tells us that the devil our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, here we see the Amalekites prowling to devour the weak and the vulnerable. Here is how you know if you are nagging behind, if you are weak and vulnerable to attack? You know it when complaining and grumbling defines your heart instead of thankful gratitude; you know it when you feel numb to the presence and the work of God, when you forget God. You lag behind if your character is in shamble, if your heart is divided when God tests you.

2. What do you do when you are attacked, when your character and heart fails?

When the Amalekites came and attack those who were lagging behind, those who were weak and vulnerable, we see two responses. On the ground, Moses charged Joshua to lead the way to fight the Amalekites. And, Moses went on top of the hill and stood there with the staff of God in his hands and he held it up high. Joshua going out with the chosen men to fight the Amalekites is s no brainer. But, what’s with Moses going up to the top of the hill and holding up his hands and how it determined the outcome of the battle?

“The staff of God [Elohim]” symbolized the Yahweh’s powerful presences. A staff in Moses’ hand, which God turned into a snake and back to a staff (Exodus 4:2-4), which Moses struck the water of Nile and turned it to blood (Exodus 7:16-17) and a staff of Aaron which Yahweh turned into a snake and when challenged by the Egyptians who turned their staffs into snakes, the staff of Aaron swallowed up theirs, there on the top of the hill, the staff of God represented the power and the presence of Yahweh.

Exodus 9:22-23 when Yahweh told Moses to stretch out his hand toward the sky so that hail would fall all over Egypt, Moses responded by stretching out his staff toward the sky; Exodus 10:12-13 when Yahweh told Moses to stretch out his hand over Egypt so that locust would swarm over the land, Moses responded by stretching out his staff over Egypt; Exodus 14:16 when Yahweh told Moses to raise his staff and stretch out his hand over the seas to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on the cry ground, Moses again obeyed. Moses’ held up hands along with the staff of God was the symbol of the power of Yahweh and the conductor of his power upon the fighting men of Israel. It presented Yahweh as the Banner over them, their lead in the battle.

And, here is the key phrase from Exodus 17:11, “As long as”! “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.” “As long as” speaks to long journey of perseverance, faithfulness and obedience.

As long as Moses had his hands held up high, the fighting men on the ground was winning. The outcome of the battle was sorely dependant on whether Moses’ hands were held up high or lower, not on the strength of the sword of the fighting men.

Moses’ staff, his hands raised up symbolized the Banner, Yahweh’s abiding and powerful presence that energized the fighting men on the ground and enabled them to overcome the enemy that prowled like a lion to devour.

Moses knew this. So, we see in Exodus 17:12, Moses trying really hard to keep the Banner up high, to bless Joshua and his fighting men on the ground with the power and the presence of Yahweh, but Moses couldn’t overcome the physical fatigue and his arm muscles cramping with burning pain.

This is when Aaron and Hur stepped in. Exodus 17:12, they got a stone and put it under Moses so he could sit on it. And, “Aaron and Hur held his hands up- one on one side, one on the other- so that his hands remained steady till sunset.” Exodus 17:13 says that because Moses’ hands were held up high steady until sunset, “Joshua overcame the Amalekites army with the sword.”

As the phrase, “As long as” speaks to remaining faithful and persevering, “remained steady” in verse 12 speaks to faithfulness, steadfastness and patience under severe trials.[1] As long as, they remained steady by raising up the Banner of Yahweh high, as long as they let the fighting troop know who was in charge of the battle and who was fighting for them, as long as the Israelites rallied around the Banner of Yahweh, they were victorious.

So, we see Moses in Exodus 17:15 making this confession, Yahweh Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner.” As Walter Kaiser says, “There was no such thing as a “holy war” in the OT, but there were “wars of Yahweh.””[2] Yahweh Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner,” means the battle belongs to the LORD; not only is he in charge, it is he who fights the battle and determines the outcome. And those who rally to the Banner, Yahweh, fight his battle. So, the Banner of Yahweh defines their identity and orients them to who they are, and gives them courage, hope, strength and the ultimately victory.[3]

So, what do you do when you are attack? What do you do when you notice the noise of grumbles, complaining, and distrusting in your heart? What do you do when you see your character failing? You declare, Yahweh Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner,” and you look to him and you rally around him, you recognize that you are fighting the LORD’s battle, and he is fighting for you.

Isaiah 11:10 reads, “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious…” The Root of Jesse is a Messianic phrase that points to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, he stands as the Banner for the peoples, for the nations to rally to him and there they will find rest, security, and hope.

Another passage, namely Numbers 21 also foreshadows the Messiah as the Banner. It’s an account of the Israelites en route to the Promised Land. Along the way, they grew impatient… they spoke against God and against Moses and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food [manna]!” Yahweh responded by sending venomous snakes that bit and killed many of the Israelites. People came to Moses and confessed their sin against Yahweh and against Moses and pleaded for Yahweh to take away the snakes. To this Yahweh told Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” Here, the word, “pole” is the same Hebrew word, “nes” used for “banner” in other places.

Jesus quoted this account in talking to Nicodemus to speak of his death on the cross, “so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). It was grotesque to look upon the bronze serpent but utterly necessary to live and to the Jews the crucifixion was a sign of curse, repugnant to behold, but again utterly necessary for eternal life. So, the Banner of the snake raised up is a picture of Jesus Christ cursed, who became sin for us as He hung on that awful tree.[4]

What do you do when you are attacked? You declare Yahweh Nissis, “The LORD is my Banner.” You rally to Jesus Christ and behold the cross where he died, you rally to Jesus Christ who died and was raised from the dead. He is your Banner over you!

Application

• Pray… Practically speaking, what was Moses doing while he had his hands lifted up high with the help from Aaron and Hur until sunset? Philip Graham Ryken thinks that while Joshua fought with sword, Moses fought with prayer[5] And, I quote, “In our prayer we acknowledge our absolute dependence on God to conquer the enemies of our faith.”[6] What do you do when you are under attack, when you notice the noises of grumbling, complaining, and distrusting in your heart? You declare Yahweh Nissis, “The LORD is my Banner,” and turn to Jesus in prayer.
• Understand and remember the battle belongs to Yahweh… Exodus 17:14, we see Yahweh’s command to write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it…” Joshua was on the ground with sword fighting the Amalekites and didn’t have grasp on what took place on the top of the hill. Understanding it is God’s battle you fight, understanding God is in charge of the battle, of you, and actively remembering this fact Yahweh Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner” … this is the key to be victorious and not become a victim to the enemy that prowls to destroy.
• Confess you have no strength apart from God’s strength… Confess you have no strength apart from strength in the Lord as it says in Ephesians 6:10-11. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
• Rally around the Banner of the cross… Remember that your rally point is the Banner of the cross. Colossians 2:13-15 says, “When You were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” It is there at the cross, you know the power of death, the power of the enemy, the power of the sinful flesh was nailed to the cross, there at the cross, you know the resurrection followed. And, when you rally around the cross and behold the Banner of Christ, you will be able to sing victoriously as in Revelation 19:2, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servant.” And, Revelation 19:6, the roar of a great multitude in heaven will be heard, “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.”

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[1] Kaiser, Jr., Walter C. “Exodus Note 17:12” In The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Volume 2. 410. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, © 1990.

[2] Kaiser, Jr., Walter C. “4. The war with Amalek (17:8-16)” In The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Volume 2. 409. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, © 1990.

[3] Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus, Crossway, 2005, p. 466.

[4] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald Barclay Allen and H. Wayne House, Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1999), Nu 21:7-9.

[5] Phlip Graham Ryken, Exodus, Crossway, 2005, p. 462.

[6] Ibid., p. 463.

Fight to put off the old and put on the new (Ephesians 4:21-24)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon March 8, 2009

Looking back, my fifth grade was a pivotal year for me as a student. Up to that moment, the learning experience at school was forgettable, while, walking to and home from school were some of my best moments. I was much more interested in exploring the backyard river, the hills and the mountains, chasing and catching bugs and frogs, looking for that special hideout places for spy and war games.

But, something changed during my fifth grade to help me appreciate learning in school. Enjoy learning at school led me to enjoy doing homework at home. My grades began to improve. Do you know what happened?

What happened was that my fifth grade teacher, Ms, Che Jun Sil was the prettiest, nicest, coolest, kindest, best teacher I ever had. Little boy me had innocent crush on his teacher. That’s how he began paying attention and listening to his teacher. That’s how he started doing well in school. He learned the joy of learning because of his teacher.

Something like this is what happens to us in the school of Christ. Paul spoke of being taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus in Ephesians 4:20. To appreciate Jesus’ teaching, to pay attention to him, and actually implement and apply his teaching in our lives there has to be this sense of being drawn to Jesus because who he is, what he has done for us, what he represents for us. It is in Jesus we are to put off old self and put on the new self. My prayer is that God opens your heart and mind to see Jesus and be drawn to him so you would be delighted to pay close attention to him and apply his teaching to put off your old self and to put on the new self.

1. Put off the old self.

Paul says in Ephesians 4:22, “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.” Paul introduced to us this former way of life in verse 17-19 and characterized the mindset of the former way of life as thoughtlessly and empty. This empty and thoughtless mindset, the futility of thinking is mind that is darkened in understanding and ignorant apart from the life of God. This mindset simply reflects the condition of heart that has become callous and hardened, insensitive and unresponsive to God. When mind and heart become insensitive and unresponsive to God, moral sensibility is replaced with sensuality. Sensuality does not seek what’s right, but continually lusts for what feels good and therefore it indulges in every kind of impurity at all cost. Paul reinforces this out of controlled, sensuality driven life as being corrupted by its deceitful desires in Ephesians 4:22. Without Christ, this would have been the outcome for all of us, the spiraling down uncontrollably and powerlessly into the abyss of godless, ever corrupting lifestyle inflamed in lust and sensuality.

Against this backdrop of insensitive and unresponsive mind and heart embracing sensuality and lust, Paul boldly proclaims that Christ in his death and resurrection has set us free from this destructive path. When Paul says to put off this destructive sinful self we are to understand it as to divest from it, to lay it aside, and to refuse to accept it, no longer to justify it or give it place in our life. To putt off means to cease, to stop[1] living as though you have no choice or you are powerless to reject self-centered, sin dominating life apart from God.

It is true that God forgives our sins in Christ. This is a picture of what God does in his grace, he forgives us. But, God in his grace does more than forgiving us. It would be a cruel joke if God forgives us but then tells us that we are now on our own to make our life holy and righteous. But, God doesn’t do that. God not only forgives us in his grace, he also empowers us in his grace. God’s grace is grounded in Jesus Christ. At the cross in the death of his Son, at the empty tomb in the resurrection of his Son, God defeated the domination of the former way of life, the old self.

So, to put off old self means stop talking or thinking as though you are powerless to stop the downward spiral of sin. By thinking and talking this way, we undermine God’s definitive work to crush the power of sin in Christ. We also elevate the power of sin as more powerful than God’s power to redeem us. The truth is you can put off your old self because God has put it off in Christ. You and I need to think biblically the power of sin that which dominated the former way of life as no longer binding us in Christ.

To put off your old self, sin domination, requires you to freshly believe in what’s possible with God. Can God help you put off lie, filthy language, bitterness, rage, anger, slander, unforgiveness, or cheating? Can God help you put off lust for false intimacy and sex outside of marriage? Can God help you put off overly critical judgment, shaming and blaming others? Can God help you put off destructive eating pattern? Can God help you put off laziness, sin of procrastination? Can God help you put off the way you feel about yourself in destructive self hatred? Can God help you to put off getting drunk out of control and passing out? Can God help you put off “ I don’t care,” attitude? Can God help you put off the old and live in newness? Is it all possible?

The answer would be “No” if all things weren’t possible with God or if it all depends on us. But, the truth is all things are possible with God who is all powerful. All things are possible for you in Christ. You can fight to put off because your fight will not be in vain for God fought for you and he has demolished the dominion of sin and death through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

2. Put on the new self.

In Christ, we no longer belong to the story of the downward descent to uncontrollable godlessness of sensuality and lust. But in Christ, we now belong to the story of putting off old self and putting on the new self.

While to put off the old self means to divest it, to lay it aside, to refuse to accept it, no longer to justify it or give it place in your life, to stop it, and to cease it, to put the new self means to invest in it, to gladly accept it, and to wear it. John Stott says in his sermon on this passage, “When God recreates us in Christ, we entirely concur with what he has done… embracing it, welcoming it.”

What is that we are to wholeheartedly concur with what God has done, to embrace, to welcome, to invest, to gladly accept, to cover ourselves with?

Paul says it is the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness in Ephesians 4:24. In the contrary to former way of life, which we got ourselves into, the new way of life is activated by Christ. This is why Paul speaks of this new self as that which is created, meaning it is something that is done outside of us in the past. We don’t make the new self happen. God creates it in Christ.

Putting on the new self is not the work of reinventing or making the old better. Putting on the new self is as John Stott explains, it is to concur with what God has already done, embrace and welcome it. It is the new way of life in Christ that we are to embrace and welcome. We are to embrace and welcome the new lifestyle of speaking truthfully, stealing or cheating no more, working with integrity and diligence for the goal of sharing with those in need, speaking only to build others up and to benefit others, being kind and compassionate, forgiving in the way Christ forgave us, defending sexual purity, being controlled by the Spirit… these and more are what God created us to be to reflect his character of righteousness and holiness.

God has fought through Christ to create this new self of living new lifestyle. Paul says in Ephesians 4:23 that to put on the new self there has to be also this being renewed in the attitude of minds. If you recall, the former way of life is characterized by the empty and thoughtless and ignorant mindset. To embrace, to welcome the new self, the battle must begin in the battle fields of our mind. God shines our mind with his light and enables it to be sensitive to him. And, as the former way of life, the old self, is being continually corrupted by deceitful desires, the new self, the way of life must be renewed moment by moment.

Colossians 3:9-11 says, “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator.” You see here a flashback to the creation account of Genesis 1:26-27 where God committed to making man, male and female, in the image of the Trinitarian God. This imprinted image of God was marred by sin in Eden, but God now makes a brand new permanent imprinting of his image on us in Christ through his death and resurrection.[2] It is important to know that this creation of new self that reflects God’s image is already accomplished in Christ.

The Christian life is not about becoming better self rather it is about welcoming and embracing this new identity in Christ imprinted with the new permanent image of God. It is about living accordingly to the new identity while rejecting the old identity apart from Christ.

God has paved the new way of living. The question is, “How badly do you and I want this new way of living?” To badly want it, you must be convinced in your mind that this is really a good deal, to trade off sin ridden life with the life of righteousness and holiness. Or, to put it another way, sin is a terrible trade for it is trading life with God for a corrupting, meaningless life with self.[3]

May God help you put off the old self and put on the new self! May God help you reject the old identity marred and dominated by sin but to embrace and welcome the new identity in Jesus Christ as holy and righteous. May Jesus displace you in yourself thoroughly with his mindset and heart and become ever sensitive and responsive to God.[4]

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[1] Low & Nida, 68.37, apotiqemai. To put away has a figurative meaning “to cease doing what one is accustomed to doing- to stop, to cease.”

[2] Snodgrass, Klyne. “Learning the Messiah (4:20 – 24)” In NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Ephesians. By Klyne Snodgrass, 235. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 1996.

[3] Snodgrass, Klyne. “Bridging Contexts” In NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Ephesians. By Klyne Snodgrass, 239. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 1996.

[4] Snodgrass, Klyne. “Bridging Contexts” In NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Ephesians. By Klyne Snodgrass, 240. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 1996.