- Well good morning, good to see all of you here worshiping here in our auditorium upstairs and also good to see all of you, well actually you can see me but I can't see you worshiping down in the warehouse. Good to have all of you with us today. Let me pray for us before we open up God's Word together. Lord, we are grateful for your goodness, we're grateful for your grace. We are grateful for the salvation that you have performed in our hearts and in our lives and we are grateful for the change that is happening from the inside out. So today I ask that you would give us eyes to see your truth and hearts willing to obey. It's in Christ's name that we pray, amen. When you commit your life to Jesus Christ, you become a new creature. God has radically transformed you on the inside and then you embark on this wonderful journey of transformation on the outside. It is a total dynamic change that takes place. It's best illustrated by what we referred to last week, how a caterpillar forms a cocoon and then goes through the process that we're very familiar, because you all have had science 101 right, metamorphosis. There's been a complete change that happens from the cocoon on the inside with this caterpillar becoming a butterfly and obviously what we see there is a monarch butterfly. Something very beautiful changes from the inside out. It was Paul the Apostle in the book of Ephesians that we saw last week that describes for us, the new identity that we have been given in Jesus Christ. He's changed us. And he's given us some wonderful blessings and tools in order to live out this new Christian life. Living out the transformation, as a matter of fact, he's done all the work for us, he says in chapter two, the book of Ephesians, you were dead in your sin, no relationship with God. Created to reflect his image but sin marred the whole thing. But by his grace, he saved you and transformed you and by the time you get to verse 10, in Ephesians chapter two, he describes how you are being created as God's workmanship for good works to go display that transformed life with other people. Paul actually says it this way, in Romans chapter eight, verse 29, he says, "For those whom he foreknew, "he also predestined to be conformed "to the image of his Son." God saved you, he saved you through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, it's his work from beginning to end. He's given you the Holy Spirit to move inside of you and change you and give you the power and the ability to live out this new Christian life. There's a statute that is found over in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the unfinished statue that Michelangelo started creating, he never finished it. And if you get up close to it, you can actually see the marks on the side of it, that are not smoothed out because he never finished it. And to me, it reminds me that we are all a work in progress. That as we saw last week, you have been given a new identity in Jesus Christ and now you are being asked to live differently or live accordingly. But it's a stretching time, it's a process of metamorphosis, it's transformation that takes place and it happens over time, because one day, we're gonna be complete, but in the meantime, there is a change that's happening and we are all a work in progress. Well as we turn the corner today and we begin to talk about what it means to live out this new identity, I wanna invite you again go back to the book of Ephesians and I want you to take your Bibles out, you can use your electronic version, you can use the one that you brought in here, if you would like, you can take the chair Bible that's right in front of you, turn to page 978, you're gonna find Ephesians chapter four and locate verse 17. Again Paul, in six chapters, talks about this new life we've been given in Jesus Christ and then by the time we get to chapter four, he starts talking about how to live out this new life and that's what we're gonna concentrate on today and he specifically tells us what it means to put on our new self. Now we've helped you out by giving you some notes, you can take those out, grab a pen, jot a few things down, this morning, they're gonna help you move into, right this afternoon, what it means to live out this transformed life and it all begins with God's work in us. Look at verse 17. Ephesians chapter four, Paul says this, "Now this I say and testify in the Lord, "that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, "in the futility of their minds." What he's doing is he's summarizing. He's saying, now, now that I've told you that God has done a work in your life, he's transformed you, he's given you a new heart, he's given you the power of the Holy Spirit, he's given you everything you need. All of these spiritual blessings he communicated, in chapter one, verse three. Now based on that, it's his work from start to finish, he's also in charge of your salvation and he's also in charge of your transformation. And so now he says, I am asking you to no longer live that way anymore because I'm giving you everything you need to experience the wonderful life that God has given to us, this transformed life. And so when he says Gentiles, he's not talking specifically about those that aren't Jewish. He's talking about those that haven't received Christ and he describes 'em in verse 18, he says, "They are darkened in their understanding, "alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance "that is in them due to their hardness of heart. "They have become callused and have given themselves up "to sensuality, greedy, to practice every kind of impurity "but that is not the way you learned Christ, "assuming you have heard about him "and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus. "To put off your old self which belongs "to your former manner of life "and is corrupt through the deceitful desires "and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds "and to put on the new self, "created after the likeness of God "in true righteousness and holiness." What he's telling you is, offload those things that don't look like Jesus Christ and put on the things that do. His point is, you've been radically transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ. You've put your faith and trust in him and him alone. God chose you, as we saw in chapter one, last week. He redeemed you to be a part of his family, through the work of Christ, it's the only way you can be saved. And then he's giving you the power of the Holy Spirit inside of you. Your very identity has changed and then Paul says, Now start putting off the old self, the old way, who you were before you came to Christ and start experiencing the transformation so that you can put on the new self, how does that happen? Well he says in verse 23, "It starts with the renewing of your minds." That's the way Paul said it in Romans 12:2, "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed." As we saw last week, that word means to go through the process of metamorphosis. To actually begin to experience the change that can happen inside of you, as you become more and more like the character of Christ and then we begin to understand that we were created after the likeness of God. We were created to reflect his image. But sin has done a number on our lives, as we saw several months ago. And we're not reflecting the image of God the way we should, because of sin and we don't have a relationship with God and so God sent his son Jesus so that we could have a relationship with him again, he redeems us, transform us, so that now we can begin to be conformed to the character of Jesus Christ. We can live the way Christ lived here and then once again, reflect God's image in us, the very character of Christ. That's the idea that he's after here. Now last week I gave this illustration, that many of us, especially this time of year right, we are dreaming about warm weather south somewhere, correct? And so that's why, you see all these commercials about Sun Country and all these other warm places that you can go and we all wanna go there, so let's just say that you bought the ticket and you're heading south, you're gonna warm up, right. Well what happens in many of our lives, when we get that on the calendar, we start thinking about going shopping. Why, because we wanna get some new clothes to wear when we get to the destination. But there's one major problem. We've experienced Thanksgiving and we've experienced Christmas cookies and we've experienced New Year and you know the Super Bowl's coming up so we're gonna have all kinds of junk food, the trouble is, you buy the new clothes and you're not gonna wear 'em because you gotta lose a few pounds. Well that's the stretching process that happens. You're anticipating going but there's gonna be some transformation that's gotta happen, physically and it's a great word picture for what needs to happen in our spiritual lives. Paul says this in Philippians 3:20. He says, "But our citizenship is in heaven." That's the goal. That's where I'm going. And "From it, we await a Savior, "the Lord Jesus Christ." From it, I'm going to heaven, I don't wanna live that way anymore and in the meantime, I'm awaiting my Savior that I'm going to meet and so during that time period, right here, right now, in the present, I wanna go through this process of being transformed and changed so that the way that I'm living now, reflects my heavenly zip code of where I will ultimately be. And so Paul says, look, you have a new identity so now put on that new self. Well what does that look like specifically? Well he tells you in verse 25, now I'm not gonna read through this whole passage because it's pretty self-explanatory but if you look down there, I just wanna highlight a few things because he says very specifically, this is how you begin to live differently. He unpacks it further in chapter five and in chapter six but just look briefly there. He says, therefore, he says, put away falsehood. Start to speak the truth with his neighbor. Why, because we're members with one another. We care about one another, we are to speak the truth in love. He says to be angry and not sin. Now there's a way to be angry, righteously upset about something and not sin, okay. But the trouble with this one is, we oftentimes are angry not because we care about God, not because we care about furthering his kingdom work, we get angry because something's happened inside of us, where we didn't get our way. Have you ever sensed that before? And because I didn't get what I wanted, then all of a sudden I get angry and if you just stop for a moment, I've had to do this in my own life, you just stop for a moment, it's like, wait a minute, my anger was because I didn't get my way, and it's totally selfish. It's like full of pride, is it not? That's the stretching and Paul says, you wanna live like Jesus? You gotta deal with that one. He says, hey if you got a problem stealing, may or may not be your problem here, I don't know, don't do it anymore! You know, don't shave your taxes, don't ask somebody to pay you in cash so you don't have to report it, that was done in Chicago where I grew up, but anyway, work hard, okay. Share with people in need, look at verse 29. This one, you know, as a matter of fact, this one should get just about everybody in the room. "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth." He says, use words that are good for what? Building up. Words of grace, not tearing people down. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit, which means sinning. Blocks his power in our lives. He says in verse 31, "Let all bitterness," he gives a string of things here. "Wrath, anger, clamor and slander." Talking behind people's back and put away from you, along with all malice. In other words, stop spreading things about someone, unless you're willing to tell them to their face first. No more gossip, no more slander, don't put somebody in a bad light, put them in a good light. So ask yourself that question and then verse 32, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other as God in Christ has forgiven you. So those are self-explanatory, we all get that, that's what it looks like. That's living the transformed life. Well let me give you a few guidelines, as you look at applying these and we continue to work our way through our passages this morning. First, get ready to be stretched. Isn't that true? I mean, get ready, if you wanna embark on this journey and you've come to know Christ as Savior and Lord, get ready because you're gonna be stretched. That's why physically, you gotta get ready for the new place you're going, the warm climate, putting on the new clothes, you've heard the phrase, right physically, no pain, no gain, well that's oftentimes true in our spiritual lives. I mean, if you're getting past some of the temptations, oftentimes the Christian life, I've heard it expressed this way, three steps forward and two steps back. So we get going and then all of a sudden, something trips us up again. And you might be experiencing some victory in one area of your life but sometimes there's other areas that are really, really hard. Forgiveness can be totally impossible, in and of ourself. It is so difficult, you're in a work situation and there is somebody, a work associate and you know from the get-go, life is about them, period. Maybe they know Jesus, maybe they don't. But everything about them is stepping over people, putting themselves first, the team does something but they take the credit for it right, so that they can kinda jockey in, you know, position and get the promotion and they're just flat out not kind. It is so tough when I pull out these verses and it says, be kind to one another. It's like, they deserve a punch in the nose, they don't deserve kindness. And that's the stretching. And here's another reminder, take some risks by faith. Step out, pick one of these things, which I'm gonna ask you to do later on in the message, as we wrap it up. Step out and start saying, this week, this is gonna be the one I center on. And what are you doing, you're trusting God's plan for your life. I was just talking to somebody this week, this is what they were applying because they were telling me, they were going into a meeting and it was not gonna be good, they didn't know what they were doing, they weren't sleeping at night, there was tons of conflict, tons of tension, finally when they were able to turn it over to the Lord, they were able to sleep, find some peace and then when they went into the meeting, the other party thought they were coming in loaded. I mean, packed, they were you know, cocked and ready to explode on 'em and all of a sudden they responded in a way that displayed kindness instead of let's take the gloves off and it totally shocked 'em. As a matter of fact, the other party didn't even know what to do with it. Because they walked in and decided, I'm gonna start living like Jesus. They stepped out and they began to live out their new identity in Christ. Here's a good one, don't make decisions based on feelings but truth. If you go into this passage and you walk through all these characteristics, feelings will actually cause you to do the exact opposite of what Paul is suggesting here. I've said this so many times here at Rockpoint, I feel like a broken record, but feelings cannot make decisions. They are terrible decision-makers. They can only feel. But the trouble is, we start looking at feelings because I'll tell you what, feelings will cause me to not speak the truth in love. Feelings will cause me, verse 26, to be angry and sin because my feelings are telling me that life is still about me. Feelings will cause me not to forgive someone. Feelings will cause me to actually, you know, say something out of my mouth that I can't take back because they're driving. And that's why this last suggestion is, renew your mind on a daily basis. That's where the transformation happens. If you look back up in chapter four, he actually said it in verse 23 that we read. He said be renewed in the spirit of your minds. Paul realizes that right thinking leads to right living. Every single time. And as you renew your mind, you're beginning to understand the truth together with one another within community and then you're beginning to live it out. Now as you put on the new self, as we are conformed to the image of Christ, what does that specifically look like in this world? Well Paul goes there, it's the walk of love. And here's why where it gets so applicational. If you'll look in chapter five, same book, you're in Ephesians, Paul actually does this. He says therefore, verse one, chapter five, based on your new identity, based on the fact that I've just given you a list of how you need to live differently, what does that really look like in my world? Well he says, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. You are to live this way so that you reflect the very image of God. Sin marred it, now I'm helping you by saving you, transforming you, it's my job all the way through this, I'm gonna bring about the transformation in you, so that you can now reflect my image to the world. Well what does that really look like? Well he even gets more specific in verse two and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. A fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. So it was Jesus Christ who came. It was Jesus Christ to tell us, that showed us the Father. It was Jesus Christ to tell us and show us how to live out this new life of love that we cannot do apart from his work in our life. You see what he does here. He just pulls it all together and he says, I want you to love like Jesus. I want you to reflect his image and who he is. Now if you'll go left from the book of Ephesians, I want you to go to the book of John. Now it's Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I didn't give you the page number, 'cause I think you can get there on your own. Just go all the way back, it's the fourth Gospel, I want you to go to John chapter 13 and I want you to locate verse 34. Keep your finger in Ephesians, 'cause we're gonna go back there. Jesus right here in this passage gives us, what is oftentimes referred to as the 11th commandment. He just washeses, washes, washeses, he just washes the disciples' feet, he serves them and then he says, "A new commandment I give to you, "that you love one another, just as I have loved you, "you also are to love one another. "By this, all people will know that you are my disciples "if you have love for one another." As Paul says, as we've just read, to reflect the image of God, we walk in love, who gave us the example? It was Jesus Christ and then he commands us to do the same, the distinguishing mark as a follower of Jesus Christ, is to love one another, that's it. It's not how much information you know. It's not how many projects you start. It's not how many ministries you launch. It's not how many times you go to church. It's not how many times you feed the poor. It's loving one another. And Jesus did the best job in showing us what that looks like. Isn't it fascinating that the first 10 Commandments were written on stone. Jesus now gives the 11th commandment to be written on our hearts in the context of a relationship, why? Because then we live it out. We really live it out. And it goes from our heart to someone else and they begin to see the engagement through a relationship that we have with God and with one another and they are drawn into a relationship with us and ultimately God the Father because God wants them to be restored through a relationship and so this command, it's not written in stone, it's written on your heart. To be reflected in everything that you do and say. Well, what's the definition of love? I mean that's a big question because if we're supposed to walk in love, what does that look like? Well let me give it to you, this is the best one I have found, given by a friend of mine, Tim Kimmel. And I think it summarizes everything Jesus is after and Paul is. Love is the commitment of my will to your needs and best interests, regardless of the cost. There's three parts to this. It's a commitment, my will, it's focused on another's needs and best interests. And there's a sacrifice that is involved. A few thoughts, first, make an intentional choice to practice love. If you wanna live this out, you have to make an intentional choice. It is something whereby it is not based on feelings and Jesus is the example because what did Jesus repeatedly say, when he was here on earth? Father, your will be done, not mine. I am here to serve his will, not my own. And so as a human being, we struggle. That's why, looking to his faithfulness is our example. Because we oftentimes wanna say, Lord, not your will but mine be done. That's exactly what we say. You know, God it's about me. And what he's saying here is, no it has to be a willful choice, not based on feelings as I've already said. Let me ask you a question for those of you that are familiar with the New Testament, you're familiar with the life of the 12 disciples. Do you think that there was various times, as Jesus spent time with them that they were hard to love? Yeah. I mean these guys were egotistical. I mean, I could just go on, we could spend half an hour here talking about their life. They were jockeying for position, over and over and over again. They were full of pride. Matter of fact, two of 'em actually conned their mother to go to Jesus and try and persuade him to put, you know, one on their left and one on their right. And matter of fact, they were so egotistical, that they were willing to put their own needs above children. We just had this wonderful video, where we're asking you to serve and be a part of our children's ministries and they said, no, no, no, these children can't come see Jesus even though they want to. 'Cause there's some other more important people here. It was intentional. And if we make it intentional, it will set us apart. Make the needs and best interests of others, as important as your own. That's the second part of the definition. Jesus came to serve. Paul says it in Philippians chapter two, verse four, that don't just simply look out for your own needs, look out for the needs of someone else. Love your neighbor as yourself, Jesus said in verse 22. And it means that we protect, it means that we provide, it means that we live an unselfish life, that is loyal and committed to someone else's success. Looking for how we might set ourselves aside, in order to serve others. And here's the last part. We make a commitment to sacrificial living. Jesus obviously washed their feet. It's been mentioned in a couple of the passages we've looked at. It was Jesus who would ultimately display the act of sacrifice by what? Going to the cross and giving his life, 'cause he said greater love has no one than this, than one would lay down his life for his friends. So what does that look like? Well, after Jesus ascended to heaven, it was God who inspired the writers of the second half of your Bible, the New Testament to record for us some very, very specific statements about loving one another. Oftentimes in churches, it's referred to as the love one another passages. So if you've been in churches for awhile, you've seen it, if you're new to the faith, you're just starting to figure this thing out called following Jesus, there's some great statements throughout the second half of your Bible, it'd say over and over and over again, this is how you love one another. You love one another this way. Now there's a massive list that's found in the book that we're going through, called The Unshakeable Truth, going through 12 essentials of the faith. I would encourage you to look at that, you're gonna unpack those in your life groups, in community this week. But I just wanted to throw a few of them up there. So that you can begin to see, what does this really look like in life? If I'm gonna walk in love, if I'm gonna make this kind of serving sacrifice that Jesus did, well it means forgiving one another, he tells you that. We read that one already. It means to be humble and gentle and patient with one another. To bear one another in love. That means to be with someone when life is not going well. And to strengthen them. To be kind to one another. To submit to one another. And he actually unpacks that and what it looks like in the marriage relationship in chapter five. Be devoted to one another. I'm devoted to your good and to serve one another. Rejoice and weep with one another. Why, because we need to experience this truth in community. And then when someone's really struggling, we carry one another's burdens so that we can walk through life with them. Now is this a process? Absolutely. We're all a work in progress. Nobody's perfect here, so the point isn't to lay a guilt trip on you or to lay a guilt trip on me, it's to show that, here's what I'm moving towards, this is what my eternal address really looks like. This is the life that Jesus actually lived that I'm supposed to live in this life. So let's just, let's practice it just for a second, okay. I want you to look at someone next to you, might be your spouse, might not, if you're kinda sitting alone, just find somebody to stare at, okay. Now here's what I want you to say. Come on, I know some of you don't like participating, okay, but you're gonna participate today. So look at someone and say, I am not perfect. - [Congregation] I am not perfect. - Come on, it's very, very, you know, this is kinda the counselor in me, everybody, you know, I'm not perfect, okay, all right. Now keep looking at 'em, I know it's uncomfortable, just keep staring at 'em, all right, don't notice the food on the side of their lip or anything like that, all right. And here's what I want you to say. I want you to say, you're not perfect. Go on, do it, you can do it. - You're not perfect. - I give you permission. Yeah, I've seen it happen in weddings, where you have the couple look at each other and you say, you're now looking at the second-most imperfect person in this relationship. You know, I will say this. If you embark on this journey, I'm gonna quote an individual who was a huge influence in my life, Dr. Howard Hendricks. He's with the Lord now. And he would make this statement. He said, the Christian life is not hard. It's impossible. It's not hard, it's not just hard, you can use whatever adjective you want. It's impossible. And there's absolutely no way you can do this on your own. But you've been given enormous resources to live it out. And one of the biggest resources that I just want to briefly mention here, and then we'll pick up on it, later on in our series, when we begin to talk about the power of the Holy Spirit that's been given to you and it's found in this statement. Make Christ the center of your life and submit to the power of the Holy Spirit. If you wanna live out this transformed life, this, this point is essential. It is not optional. Because of the transformation that needs to happen, on the inside out. Now Paul brings up the Holy Spirit, in a variety of different places in Ephesians. So if you're still in John, go back to Ephesians and I want you to find chapter three and locate verse 14. It's a prayer that Paul gives and I don't wanna overlook it because it actually gets to the heart of everything we have talked about here. In verse 14, Paul says, "For this reason, "I bow my knees before the Father "from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named." Paul has just described how your salvation is a work of God from beginning to end and so is the process of sanctification or transformation in your life. This has everything to do with God. And as I submit to him, he begins to move in my heart and life. He's also given me some enormous resources, he refers to that in the very next verse. He says, "That according to the riches of his glory "or his glorious riches." He's blessed us in so many ways, he may grant you, here's one of them. To be strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner being. The Holy Spirit of God. He is praying specifically. You wanna pray for God's will in someone's life, pray that the power of the Holy Spirit may be working in their inner being to do what? He says in verse 17. "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." Now he mentioned heart here. Remember what I said, God called you to love one another, it's the commandment that's written on your heart. So he's going somewhere. I've already tipped my hat. He says so that Christ may dwell in your hearts, becoming the dominant influence in every single area of my life, the word dwell means abide or be at home with, in every single area of my life. Jesus said, John 15, abide in me and I in you. His point is, he wants to be involved, the dominant influence, the center of every single area of my life. Well pull that apart for me a little bit more, Paul. Well he says, well what I mean by that, is that you being rooted and grounded in love, those of you that have trusted Christ as Savior, you've been given a new identity, the power of the Holy Spirit inside of you, he's living there now, in order to get you to that point, where Christ is the dominating influence in every single area of your life, here's what it looks like. What I mean by that is, that you might have strength, 'cause he's praying for the strength and the power of the Holy Spirit to do something in you and here's the key. "To comprehend with all the saints, "what is the breadth and length and height "and depth and to know the love of Christ "that surpasses knowledge "that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." You wanna experience the transformed life? Get to know Jesus Christ, that's his point. His point is, as you are strengthened by the Holy Spirit of God, it is Paul's prayer and we should be praying this for one another, that we get to know the Lord Jesus Christ, that's his point. And it will be the Spirit of God that reveals to us, help us comprehend how massive and amazing his love is, so that we begin to taste it and understand it. This is why I've said before that grace is the game-changer, because when you get to know Jesus Christ and the incredible love of what he has given to you and how you are a work of God from beginning to end and how it is he that gave you his grace and redeemed you and saved you, it has nothing to do with you. You are overwhelmed by the power of his forgiveness and the power of his grace. And I'll tell you what that begins to do, it begins to change the affections of your heart. Because you are engaged in a relationship with someone who is overwhelming you with everything that he has done. So that as you get to know him and his heart and his love for you, you're beginning to understand who he is. That's why Paul said in chapter one, verse eight, he said that you've been given wisdom and insight. Now follow me here, wisdom as I said last week, is the objective comprehension of truth. You can read the Bible and understand it. You can begin to see how Jesus wants you to live. The insight means subjective apprehension of the truth. The application to life. I can read the Bible, I can understand it. It's not that truth is subjective. The point there is, the insight is subjective in its application because its application to me is different than you. So as I live in this realm where the Holy Spirit is moving inside of me, I'm seeing the truth and how it applies to my life, my affections have been changed so that as I learn who Christ is, experience his love, my mind is being renewed by who he is and how I should live my life differently. See for some of you, you don't struggle with kindness, you're just that by nature. I'm not, okay. I'm from Chicago, I've had to really grow in this area, I'm gonna tell ya. So there's been times you cross me, gloves are off, let's go after it. Well that's my revelation, okay, hope you don't hate me for that, but that's, that's where I've had to grow. And the same is for some of you. That's where it moves from the affections changing as I get to know Jesus to my attitude changing and then the actions begin to change as I start living accordingly. And I begin then as he says here, to reflect the fullness of God. The image of God because I am being crafted, as a work of art, his workmanship, changing me, putting off the old self, putting on the new by the power of the Holy Spirit, living out this new life, this new walk of love and if I wanna grow, I get to know Jesus because then my affections change, my attitude changes and my actions change as well and there is total and complete transformation. Now as you leave this place, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go back through this list and it might be from, you know, the book that you're going through in your small groups, your life groups or this passage, I just want you to pick one area. There is one area that jumped out at me today that I need to focus on. And then here's your power this week. I want you to pray that God would give you power through the Holy Spirit to make Christ the central, dominating influence in your life. So that as you seek to apply this area, he would change your affections. He would change your attitude and ultimately change your actions to be like him. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your goodness and your grace in our lives. We ask for your power and your strength to go with us. As we seek to live for you. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.