Pentecost 11 Date: 08/20/06 Text: Ephesians 4:17-24 Title: Live and Let Die
Pentecost 11
08/20/06
Text: Ephesians 4:17-24
Title: Live and Let Die
Heavenly Father, creator and sustainer of all things, we humbly come before you this morning, completely unworthy of any of the blessings you daily give us. If it were not for Jesus Christ and his saving work on our behalf, we could not even approach you. We ask that you clear our minds of anything that might distract us from hearing what you have to say to us today through your Word and Sacraments. Lord, without you we die, with you we live. Amen.
Two weeks ago, I started this series on God’s will for us, by looking at Ephesians 2:13-22. There we found, that God has torn down the walls that divide people of the Christian faith. We saw that even though God tore down those walls we, as sinful human beings, like to take the rubble of those walls and build new walls that separate and divide families, congregations, neighborhoods, states, and countries.
We looked at just why it is that we like to keep rebuilding the walls that Jesus tore down and came to the conclusion that we build walls because we really do not truly believe that God did in fact tear down the walls that separate his people. We are going to continue to build and maintain our walls of separation and division until we truly have faith in his Holy word that the walls that separate God’s people have really been torn down by Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Last week in Ephesians 4, verses 1-17, we found out that we, that is, all people who profess Jesus to be their Savior, are one people in God. We found that we are united in one body, the church of God, the church universal because there is only one spirit, the Spirit of God, and one hope, the sure hope of our salvation through Jesus Christ.
Because we belong to one body, we are not to be divisive in the local congregation, but united in the mission of proclaiming God’s Word, administering the Sacraments, and helping those who do not know of Jesus to know him as their Savior.
According to God’s Holy Word, we are to be humble, gentle, and patient, bearing with others in their spiritual walk, and sparing no effort in remaining in unity. Which by the way is the responsibility of each and every member of this congregation.
Today we are going to look at Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 17-24 so that we might continue to find out God’s will for us. Time is short, so let us get to it.
You might have noticed my sermon title for this morning is “Live and let die.” Some of you might remember that was the title of a James Bond movie that was in the theaters in 1973. It was typical James Bond with all the latest gadgets, chases, close encounters and beautiful women. It is a classic tale of good winning against evil.
That title, “Live and let die” is true, for to live by the world’s standards, its sensuality, is to die, to die an eternal death. How much better it is for us to live by God’s standards, where we die to live. We die to the sensuality of the world to live, so that we will have eternal life with God.
Paul admonishes the people he is writing to, that includes you and me, that we are to no longer live like those that do not know Jesus. They do not know Jesus because they have hardened their hearts. In other words, in their not listening to God’s Holy Word, in thinking they have a better way, they have hardened their hearts, which leads to them being ignorant of God’s will for their lives. This of course means they are separated from the life of God.
This then leads them to such depths of sin that they are beyond feeling as they give themselves to all kinds of sensuality, which by the way does not just mean sexual sin, but all kinds of self-indulgence, a, if it feels good, do it, type of mentality.
Paul tells us, do not be like them, but walk in righteousness and true holiness. The “old man” is part of your past. It is how you lived before you were saved. Now for most of us that is a hard concept to understand, for most of us were brought into God’s Kingdom as babies when we were baptized.
But we are not completely free of the “old man’ for we all know that the “old man” is never content, but grows corrupt according to all sorts of deceitful lusts. The ‘old man’ is like any person that is addicted to alcohol, drugs, food, or anything else that controls their life. There is never enough, there is always a need for more. Something has to fill the hole left by the absence of God.
The only way to keep putting off the “old man” is by setting your mind on things above, by letting God transform you into the “new man” he wants you to be. The same man that God created to be righteous and holy, before Adam and Eve’s fall into sin.
Are you still having trouble with the “old man”? I would not be surprised, for I still have trouble with the “old man”, as he continues to try and tear off the “new man”. We have problems with him, because as verse 19 tells us, “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.”
One needs to look no further than what is shown on our televisions to see that sex, the body beautiful, food, and material things are the gods of America. The fall lineup of television shows, the commercials, “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.” There is no doubt that God in his ultimate wisdom knew that we too needed this warning.
Have we who consider ourselves Christians lost our sensitivity to sin, to the sensual desires of the flesh? I wonder, for take a moment and think back just a few years. I bet you can find examples of things that you do not consider to be a sin now that were sins not too long ago.
Have you gotten use to sin? What do you watch on your TV? What conversations do you take part in? What dirty jokes do you send through the secrecy of the internet? What do you view on the internet in the privacy of your home? What movies do you watch? What advertisements do you chuckle at as they “push the envelope” of decency?
We, the people of God are getting used to sin. We are getting comfortable with it. I am afraid that we all have to admit that for the most part our lives resemble the lives of those in the world more than those that God wants us to live. We are just attracted to impurity, to immorality.
Maybe we do not actually take part in sensual things, but we do vicariously, through the lives of others, as we watch television and movies, listen to the radio, and read books that are not God pleasing. And, unless something is done about our “old man” we are all doomed, for God tells us that we have to put on the “new man”.
Thank goodness something has been done. Jesus Christ came into this sinful world of ours. He never allowed himself to be desensitized to the sensuality of the world. He never succumbed to the immorality of the world.
That is why his crucifixion is such an amazing thing. The perfectly holy man allowed the sensuality, the filth of the world to be put on him, not for himself, but for each one of us, so that we could put on the “new man”.
That is what makes Christianity so hard to believe. To know that you are forgiven, that you are clean, and pure in God’s eyes, all because of Jesus Christ, is truly an amazing thing.
The ways of the world can only lead to destruction, to death. The only way to eternal life is through God’s Word as we are told in verse 20 of Ephesians, “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 Christ.”
You have put on the “new man” because in Christ you have found the truth, the truth about what is right and wrong, what is good and bad, what is holy and unholy.
With the help of Christ you can rid yourself of remains of the “old man” that so clings to you. For in verse 22 we read, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self (“old man”) which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.”
Put off your old self, that part of you that is proud, the part of you that is inclined towards evil and all that is sensual. You can do it, because as verse 23 tells us we are, “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.”
You are righteous and holy, so join me in fighting off the “old man” as he tries to entice you to the sensuality of the world. You can do it you know, for Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection has clothed you with the “new man”, and what God has given you, no one can take away. Amen.
08/20/06
Text: Ephesians 4:17-24
Title: Live and Let Die
Heavenly Father, creator and sustainer of all things, we humbly come before you this morning, completely unworthy of any of the blessings you daily give us. If it were not for Jesus Christ and his saving work on our behalf, we could not even approach you. We ask that you clear our minds of anything that might distract us from hearing what you have to say to us today through your Word and Sacraments. Lord, without you we die, with you we live. Amen.
Two weeks ago, I started this series on God’s will for us, by looking at Ephesians 2:13-22. There we found, that God has torn down the walls that divide people of the Christian faith. We saw that even though God tore down those walls we, as sinful human beings, like to take the rubble of those walls and build new walls that separate and divide families, congregations, neighborhoods, states, and countries.
We looked at just why it is that we like to keep rebuilding the walls that Jesus tore down and came to the conclusion that we build walls because we really do not truly believe that God did in fact tear down the walls that separate his people. We are going to continue to build and maintain our walls of separation and division until we truly have faith in his Holy word that the walls that separate God’s people have really been torn down by Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Last week in Ephesians 4, verses 1-17, we found out that we, that is, all people who profess Jesus to be their Savior, are one people in God. We found that we are united in one body, the church of God, the church universal because there is only one spirit, the Spirit of God, and one hope, the sure hope of our salvation through Jesus Christ.
Because we belong to one body, we are not to be divisive in the local congregation, but united in the mission of proclaiming God’s Word, administering the Sacraments, and helping those who do not know of Jesus to know him as their Savior.
According to God’s Holy Word, we are to be humble, gentle, and patient, bearing with others in their spiritual walk, and sparing no effort in remaining in unity. Which by the way is the responsibility of each and every member of this congregation.
Today we are going to look at Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 17-24 so that we might continue to find out God’s will for us. Time is short, so let us get to it.
You might have noticed my sermon title for this morning is “Live and let die.” Some of you might remember that was the title of a James Bond movie that was in the theaters in 1973. It was typical James Bond with all the latest gadgets, chases, close encounters and beautiful women. It is a classic tale of good winning against evil.
That title, “Live and let die” is true, for to live by the world’s standards, its sensuality, is to die, to die an eternal death. How much better it is for us to live by God’s standards, where we die to live. We die to the sensuality of the world to live, so that we will have eternal life with God.
Paul admonishes the people he is writing to, that includes you and me, that we are to no longer live like those that do not know Jesus. They do not know Jesus because they have hardened their hearts. In other words, in their not listening to God’s Holy Word, in thinking they have a better way, they have hardened their hearts, which leads to them being ignorant of God’s will for their lives. This of course means they are separated from the life of God.
This then leads them to such depths of sin that they are beyond feeling as they give themselves to all kinds of sensuality, which by the way does not just mean sexual sin, but all kinds of self-indulgence, a, if it feels good, do it, type of mentality.
Paul tells us, do not be like them, but walk in righteousness and true holiness. The “old man” is part of your past. It is how you lived before you were saved. Now for most of us that is a hard concept to understand, for most of us were brought into God’s Kingdom as babies when we were baptized.
But we are not completely free of the “old man’ for we all know that the “old man” is never content, but grows corrupt according to all sorts of deceitful lusts. The ‘old man’ is like any person that is addicted to alcohol, drugs, food, or anything else that controls their life. There is never enough, there is always a need for more. Something has to fill the hole left by the absence of God.
The only way to keep putting off the “old man” is by setting your mind on things above, by letting God transform you into the “new man” he wants you to be. The same man that God created to be righteous and holy, before Adam and Eve’s fall into sin.
Are you still having trouble with the “old man”? I would not be surprised, for I still have trouble with the “old man”, as he continues to try and tear off the “new man”. We have problems with him, because as verse 19 tells us, “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.”
One needs to look no further than what is shown on our televisions to see that sex, the body beautiful, food, and material things are the gods of America. The fall lineup of television shows, the commercials, “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.” There is no doubt that God in his ultimate wisdom knew that we too needed this warning.
Have we who consider ourselves Christians lost our sensitivity to sin, to the sensual desires of the flesh? I wonder, for take a moment and think back just a few years. I bet you can find examples of things that you do not consider to be a sin now that were sins not too long ago.
Have you gotten use to sin? What do you watch on your TV? What conversations do you take part in? What dirty jokes do you send through the secrecy of the internet? What do you view on the internet in the privacy of your home? What movies do you watch? What advertisements do you chuckle at as they “push the envelope” of decency?
We, the people of God are getting used to sin. We are getting comfortable with it. I am afraid that we all have to admit that for the most part our lives resemble the lives of those in the world more than those that God wants us to live. We are just attracted to impurity, to immorality.
Maybe we do not actually take part in sensual things, but we do vicariously, through the lives of others, as we watch television and movies, listen to the radio, and read books that are not God pleasing. And, unless something is done about our “old man” we are all doomed, for God tells us that we have to put on the “new man”.
Thank goodness something has been done. Jesus Christ came into this sinful world of ours. He never allowed himself to be desensitized to the sensuality of the world. He never succumbed to the immorality of the world.
That is why his crucifixion is such an amazing thing. The perfectly holy man allowed the sensuality, the filth of the world to be put on him, not for himself, but for each one of us, so that we could put on the “new man”.
That is what makes Christianity so hard to believe. To know that you are forgiven, that you are clean, and pure in God’s eyes, all because of Jesus Christ, is truly an amazing thing.
The ways of the world can only lead to destruction, to death. The only way to eternal life is through God’s Word as we are told in verse 20 of Ephesians, “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 Christ.”
You have put on the “new man” because in Christ you have found the truth, the truth about what is right and wrong, what is good and bad, what is holy and unholy.
With the help of Christ you can rid yourself of remains of the “old man” that so clings to you. For in verse 22 we read, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self (“old man”) which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.”
Put off your old self, that part of you that is proud, the part of you that is inclined towards evil and all that is sensual. You can do it, because as verse 23 tells us we are, “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.”
You are righteous and holy, so join me in fighting off the “old man” as he tries to entice you to the sensuality of the world. You can do it you know, for Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection has clothed you with the “new man”, and what God has given you, no one can take away. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 3:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home