On Wednesday night, we discussed how the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the early Christians in Ephesus, used the second half of Ephesians to answer the question, “what now?”
For the early Christians, it was an important question because they didn’t have the luxury of centuries of Christian leadership, scholarship and tradition.
Paul is no longer with them (in fact, he was in a Roman prison), so what now?
Think of it as the “therefore” of our faith. In other words, we believe the Good News about Christ, therefore we _____________.
How we fill in that blank matters a lot. Once we have a strong understanding of the character of God, through the example of Christ, there’s really no limit to what we can place in there.
Because we believe the Good News, we choose:
- Love over hate.
- Forgiveness over holding a grudge.
- Generosity over selfishness.
- Self-control over self-gratification
- Truth over lies.
- Peace over war.
- Justice over revenge.
This is how we respond to the Good News about Christ in our daily lives. This is what Paul calls the “new humanity,” as we clothe ourselves with the attributes of Christ.
Once we know Christ, we know the truth, and the old ways must go.
As Paul taught us:
But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.
Ephesians 4: 20-24
Let us embrace this new humanity so that others may come to know Christ through our example.
See you Sunday!
The Pipe 