Living Stones – Saturday, September 23, 2017
Faith that fits our fancy
Ephesians 4:23-24
… be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and … put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Well, the mind changes the man. In this section of the letter to the church at Ephesus the Apostle Paul continues to make the connection between that which is going on in our head and that which is going on in our life. Change what is going on in the head and you have a new person.
The Christian is to be transformed to live in true righteousness and holiness. Today, we seem to have some difficulty understanding what true righteousness and holiness should look like. But the Apostle makes it clear for us because he gives us a clear contrast. He contrasts two kinds of minds. In verse 17 of Ephesians 4 he said that those who are not Christian follow the “futility of their mind” they follow a certain kind of thinking which leads to specific conduct. But we who have learned Christ are to be “renewed in the spirit of our mind” and we would have a different kind of thinking and conduct. Read the entire passage from verse 17 to verse 24 and the contrasts are clear and obvious.
But we have a challenge before us. The spirit of the age has affected the thinking in the church. We have often allowed a different set of standards to determine how we will live our lives instead of the Word of God and the Spirit of Christ. New Age philosophies and modern life have blurred the lines between what is right and what is righteous. The world has forced us to think in terms of rights and not necessarily in terms of righteousness.
Rights have been defined by the world system, righteousness has been defined by the Word of God. We must know the difference because it is easy to get caught up in the struggle for rights because it seems so “right.”
The result of this climate though, is that we, the people of God, have gotten to a place where we want a faith that fits our fancy. A form of faith that allows us to remain friendly with the sinful world and allows us to continue living the way we were without change!
We are coming to church but living the way we always did. We are quoting gurus because what they said sounds so good but we don’t know what the scripture says on the matter. We are reading lifestyle coaches and success trainers but not depending on the leading of the Holy Spirit. And these are just examples and not a full discourse on the matter of how the lines are blurred between the world and the church.
But the scripture is very clear. We cannot define faith for ourselves. We cannot construct a Christianity that fits in well with our views about how the world should be and about how life should be lived.
Here is the stark contrast. “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” That’s Ephesians 4:17-19.
And then there are verses 20 to 24. “But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
This is a matter that we must pick up next week but the difference should be as clear as night and day. The Christian conduct stands in stark contrast to the conduct of the world. A quick, good example, is the matter of sexual purity. Many in church today do not believe that sexual purity is a viable way of life any longer. So “church people” are involved in sexual promiscuity without any feelings of discomfort or conviction and come to church as if nothing happened.
We don’t live the same way the world does and just come to church. Our thinking must be different to that of the world, we must be “renewed in the spirit of our mind” and then put on the “new man”
But then, we who are leaders in the church are not without blame, some of the struggle lies in how we have taught Christ. Here is what the Apostle said in verse 20, “But you have not so learned Christ” learning often requires teaching. He goes on to say “if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:” We all have some work to do to move away from a faith that fits our fancy to a faith that is rooted in the scripture and the proper teaching and learning of Christ.
Think of these things:
- Have you tried to work your faith into life or to have your faith change your life?
- What things in your life would have to be changed to truly reflect the teaching of the scripture?
- Try to spend some time reflecting on what issues or causes you feel strongly about and then consider if you feel strongly about them because of the Biblical position or because you have been persuaded otherwise.
Prayer focus:
Pray today that we would allow the Holy Spirit to search our lives and show us where our life had not lined up with the Scriptures so that we might get busy about making the change.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
