Walking the Walk

“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.  But ye have not so learned Christ;”  Ephesians 4:17-20

It wasn’t just about being unified as the spiritual body of Christ, as Paul continued his exhortation to the believers in Ephesus, but it was also about individual behavior in those Gentiles who had been saved.  Before their conversion to Christ, the Ephesians lived like all the other Gentiles lived–selfish, greedy, and somewhat immoral lives.  When they came to Christ, it was like moving from the gutter to glory, a complete about-face in their lifestyles and goals.  Even though Paul was not a Gentile, he could testify how he had previously walked contrary to that of Christ.  As far as we know, Paul didn’t live an immoral life, but he pursued Christians thinking that he was doing God a favor in his efforts to eradicate Christianity.  One day, though, Jesus stopped him in his tracts, and Paul became a believer.  Because he had traveled the road of darkness before he met Christ, he could identity with these believers in Ephesus.  Even if these Ephesian church members were striving to live righteously, Paul knew how much Satan desired to disrupt the gospel and the witness of believers thus the reason for his warning.

Paul had taught in Romans 7:7 that it was the law that showed him that he was a sinner, but the Gentiles had not been privileged to have the law as did those of Israel, and therefore, the Gentiles behaved however they chose fulfilling their lusts in whatever evil desires they imagined (lasciviousness).  God instills in every person a conscience, but those Gentiles had ignored their consciences.  The problem with that is that over time the conscience becomes of no value to those ignore it.  It becomes “seared with a hot iron” (I Timothy 4:2), crusted over so thicky that it can’t be penetrated.  Even so, sinners have no excuse to not acknowledge God, even without knowing the law or ignoring their consciences, because God has given evidence of His existence in nature (Romans 1:19:20).  God put within each soul a desire to worship something greater than himself or herself with the intention that all people would worship Him.

These Ephesians were blessed as all believers are to receive Christ and the gospel which changes the lives of those who once were in bondage to sin.  No longer were they the selfish, greedy, and sinful creatures of their past, but were new creatures in Christ, pardoned, regenerated, sanctified, and saved.  When the word came to their hearts, conviction of sin came upon them, and the gospel of Jesus Christ showed them a new way to live to please the Father and to obtain eternal life.  Paul urged the believers to not carry on the same conversations, dirty jokes, criticisms, complaints, gossip, sexual sins, cheating, lying, and all other sins which bring nothing but destruction.  Don’t be a hypocrite who talks the talk but does not walk the walk (verse 22).  Christians must have the help of the Holy Spirit to prod, nudge, and/or caution the believer that he or she doesn’t own his or her life any longer.  Each day the mind is renewed by God’s Spirit (verse 23) as a reminder of the One to whom believers owe their lives and allegiance.  We are not our own any longer because God paid an extremely high price for our souls, bodies, and minds (I Corinthians 6:20).

Paul emphasized the need for believers in Christ to “put on” the new man.  HIs analogy is that of putting on a coat.  In order for the coat to fit well, the old coat must be removed.  When people come to Christ, depending on how old they are, they can bring a lot of baggage with them, metaphorically speaking.  It is not a problem for Christ to begin His work in removing that old coat of pride and sin, but sometimes it is not so easy for the new “babe” in Christ to relinquish some of his or her sinful habits which have been deeply engrained within his or her soul.  A “tug of war” ensues within the heart of the new believer with the Holy Spirit leading him or her to abandon those sinful habits, and, at the same time, Satan is attempting to entice the new believer to continue his or her sinful ways.  Satan has already lost the war when the sinner repented and trusted Christ, but he hasn’t given up the battle to keep the new believer from growing in Christ.  We’ve all seen the illustration of a little angel sitting one shoulder of a man and the little devil sitting on the other shoulder.  The man must decide which one to follow in making his decision.  Whoever came up with this illustration meant for it to be funny, but there is more truth to it than comedy.  Matter of fact, there is nothing funny about sin.  God’s justice requires that sin be punished, but in His mercy and love, He gave men and women a way to escape punishment through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The bottom line is that if Jesus could do what He did for us, shouldn’t we strive to keep our lives clean and pure and not allow sinful habits to stain us?  When we do slip up and sin, we have the ability to confess our sin and be cleansed and forgiven by Jesus (I John 1:9), but, of course, that is not a license to sin (Roman 6:11-12).  We should never take God’s grace for granted.