MPC, 2nd March 2003.Ephesians 4:17-5:20 - "Dress Sense"
Phil Campbell MPC, 2nd March 2003.
Survivor Amazon. Funny with the Survivor series. They always have a "token Christian." As well as a token gay, and a token middle aged stay-at-home mum.
And I reckon being the token Christian on a show watched by millions of people around the world would be a tough call. Because in a very real sense, you're representing Jesus. To the world.
So you'd have to say JoAnna last Wednesday night was pretty disappointing. JoAnna is the token Christian. And JoAnna was uncomfortable with the immunity idol in the Jaburu campsite.
Leanne says, "JoAnna doesn't like the Immunity Idol because she thinks that it is an idol, and idols are forbidden via the Ten Commandments. She doesn't want it in the camp, and wants nothing to do with it." Which is maybe fair enough. But it's when JoAnna gets caught up in an argument with Christy that things get embarrassing. Because the argument about the idol gets heated. Christy says JoAnna's being stupid about it. And JoAnna totally blows her cool. She's shouting, she's rude, she's shoving her hand in Christy's face. And as Christy walks away, she says to the camera, "Man, if you are a vessel of Christ, don't you think you need to be a little nicer or kinder?"
And clearly, she's absolutely right. If JoAnna really is a vessel of Christ, that's exactly what you'd be expecting.
Now maybe you're sitting here this morning slightly relieved that your behaviour as a Christian over the last week hasn't been broadcast on prime time TV. But what if it was? Maybe you're sitting here thinking, boy, if the cameras had caught me on Thursday morning with what I said to that shop assistant, if the Survivor crew had been in the back seat and saw how close I got to road rage on Tuesday when that other guy took my parking spot, if the microphone had caught my words the other day on the soccer field... it wouldn't be so pretty either.
But are you happy to leave it that way? To say, well, I know God's got plenty of forgiveness. So I'll just sin a little more. And not worry about it?
If you're saying that, Paul wants you to know this morning that you've made a terribly embarrassing mistake. Like that popular recurrent nightmare people have that you turn up to school and you find you're still in your pyjamas.
Like these new Gentile Christians we've been meeting in Ephesians, you've been invited to join God's saints. You've been invited to join God's holy people. So how about dressing for the occassion?
Now just to refresh your thinking a bit, the Gentiles Paul's talking about here, it's the catchall term for anyone non Jewish. And the picture is, you've got Israel, the Jews, the people of God who have had God's law for thousands of years. And know what right living looks like.
And then the Gentiles. Everyone else. With their idol worship, and their pagan Gods and their lifestyles to match.
I guess when you've got Gentiles converting to Christianity there's some unlearning to do. Some attitudes to re-think. Some old habits that die hard. But need to be challenged.
And maybe if you've become a Christian, it's like that for you.
Even if you've been a Christian for a while. So easy to take on board the world's values and the world's attitudes that you need to be confronted with the fact that being Christian is being different.
And so Paul says in Ephesians 4:17, so I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking.
You need to change.
He says "They are darkened in their understanding, and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
Their hearts are hard to God. They're separate from the life God gives. And the lights are off. In the understanding department.
That's what you've come from. And here's how it looks. Verse 19. Having lost all sensitivity, they've given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
More drugs. More alcohol. More money. More luxury. More parties. More sex.
The grand finale of the movie Chicago, Roxie and Valma sing this:
There's men, everywhere Jazz, everywhere
Booze, everywhere Life, everywhere
Joy, everywhere Nowadays
You can like the life you're living, You can live the life you
like
You can even marry Harry, But mess around with Ike
And that's Good, isn't it?
Grand, isn't it?
Great, isn't it?
Swell, isn't it?
Fun, isn't it?
Which isn't just Chicago. The world apart from God says, do what you like. Do what feels good.
You know, there's been great concern in the United States over the newly crowned Miss America. Because Erika Harold has said as she goes around America, she's going to be encouraging teenagers to abstain from sex outside marriage.
And the organisers of the pageant want to ban her from saying it. Because it's not politically correct. To say that there's moral right and wrong. They want her to promote safe sex with condoms.
So I tell you this, says Paul, and I insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do. It's time to start living like the people of God. It's time to start living like people of the light. It's time to take off your old life... and put on something new.
And that's what you were taught, he says, when you came to Jesus. Weren't you? That the gospel doesn't just offer forgiveness from sins and an excuse for more sinning. But a whole new start.
Surely, he says, verse 22, you were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be life God in true righteousness and holiness.
Can you see the three steps? And it's like getting out of your dirty gardening clothes and into your party gear. With a good clean-up in between.
Put off your old self. Which is grubby.
Be made new in the attitude of your minds.
And then put on the new self.
Because if you're someone who's become a Christian, you're someone who wants to become a whole new person. With a whole new attitude. And a whole new way of living.
I mean, if that's not what you want, what are you on about? If that's not what you want, why carry the name of Jesus?
And so here, for starters, is what the new attitude is going to look like. And how it's going to translate into action.
Therefore, live this way...
Therefore, verse 25, if you're going to put off your old way of life, here are some practical pointers. Here's the old gear.
Put off lying. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour.
Put off the sort of sin that flows from anger.
Did you hear about the road rage guy in court in Sydney through the week? So impatient with the traffic jam he started ramming people. Including one young pregnant mum. Who rammed into a pole and was seriously injured and lost the baby. Anger at a traffic jam... led to an incredible trail of sin. And tragedy.
Put it off.
Get rid of stealing. Verse 28. And do something useful instead.
Put off unwholesome talk. You know what it is. Verse 29. Don't let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth... but only what's helpful.
Get rid, verse 31, of all bitterness, rage and anger and brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
There's more. Chapter 5 verse 3.
Among you, there mustn't even be a hint of sexual immorality, or impurity, or greed. Because these just aren't proper for God's holy people. For God's saints.
Take it off.
Put on these...
I'm sure I've told the story of my friend Luke Tattersall turning up to meet friends at the Ritz in London. Dressed in jeans and running shoes. He was very politely escorted to the door. See, you're going to the Ritz because you want to go somewhere with style. And well dressed people. So you've got to dress appropriately. Some things just aren't proper. The doorman said, proper trousers, proper shoes. And a tie.
You Gentiles are joining the people of God. So dress for the occasion. So take off all this stuff that's so typical of the world. Forget the fact that everybody's doing it. Because the stuff the world's doing just isn't proper for the saints of God.
Get rid of obscenity and coarseness. Get rid of foolish talk. It's out of place.
And put on things like this.
4:32. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other... just as in Christ, God forgave you.
5 verse 1. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved Children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Compassion. Forgiveness. Love. A whole new attitude. And it's interesting how the new attitude pervades all the other things Paul was saying as well. Did you notice, it wasn't just a list of commandments saying don't do this and don't do that. There are attitudes attached.
An attitude as a member of the kingdom of Christ... of wanting to be like your king. Because if you don't want to be Christlike, why call yourself Christian?
For of this you can be sure, says Paul, chapter 5 verse 5... no immoral, impure or greedy person - such a man is an idolater - no immoral, or impure or greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
You say you want to be part of the kingdom of Christ. Well, live like he's your king then. That girl on Survivor was right. If you are a vessel of Christ, if you're a subject of Christ... don't you think it should show?
Don't be fooled. This stuff's not okay. For the Gentiles Paul's talking to, keeping on living the way they had been means they've missed the point of what they've become. Keeping on living the world's way means they're still standing in the place God's anger's going to fall. Keeping on doing the very stuff they've been saved from.
Verse 6, he says, Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. So don't be partners with them. The reality is, God's judgement is going to fall on things like dishonesty and immorality and impurity and greed. So why would you want to flirt with it.
Because Paul says, you were once darkness. But now you're not. You were once darkness. But now you're light. So live like it. In all goodness. Righteousness. Truth. Find out what's pleasing to God. And do that. And have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness.
Now maybe you're a Christian who's been fooled the same way.
I mean, it's almost an odd thought. Paul's writing this letter to a church full of people who need to be told not to lie to each other. Seems he's writing to a church where if you put your handbag down on the floor, the person in the row behind's likely to nick it. A church where they actually need to be told to cut out swearing at each other. Where they haven't figured out they need to be different to the world they've come out of.
Might be the same with you.
I mean, we've got the church thing under control so it's more or less polite here on a Sunday. But what about the rest of the week? I wonder, how different are you to the non-Christians you work with?
I mean, you're not on national TV. But you're on display. So I wonder, at the level of ambitions? On the level of materialism? On the level of what you do with your money? On the level of your language in the workplace? On the level of gossip? On the level of honesty? Are you different? Or not?
And most important, does the difference start from the inside? Are you actually being made new in the attitude of your minds? Remembering you've been re-created to be like God in true righteousness. And holiness?
So Paul says, be careful how you live. Put some thought into it. Be wise. Instead of foolish. And understand that God's will for you is that you'd always be growing in Godliness. Every day, putting off the old, putting on the new.
Chapter 5 verse 15, Paul says, Be very careful then, how you live - not as unwise, but as wise - making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
And they are. Endless opportunities. Ask yourself. Is it actually wise to walk into a movie like this? Or click on a website like that? Is it wise to react like this? Or to get angry like that? Because at each step, it's a choice.
Paul says make the most of opportunities for righteousness.
Don't be foolish. And don't be a drunk.
Instead, be filled with the Spirit. The Spirit that brings holiness.
And at the same time be full of thankfulness. For the great privilege that you share as part of the family of God. Thankful for God's mercy that made us what we are. Thankful that Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.
A thankfulness reflected in the way we speak to one another; in what we sing to one another. Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, Paul says, that we sing to one another as we give thanks to God for everything. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We started with an example of a public Christian who's made a bad impression.
Let me finish with the opposite.
February 4, 1986, Anita Cobby was murdered on the outskirts of Sydney. 26 year old beauty queen, raped, stabbed, dumped in a paddock. In a case that somehow caught Australia's attention. I was reading an article yesterday; they followed up the police involved, and the lawyer involved, and Anita's parents after 17 years. To ask about the ongoing impact.
Anita's parents were committed Christians. And it was striking, even back then. That in their very public grief, they kept showing wisdom and grace. And her dad Garry Lynch set up support groups for other victims of crime. And spoke about the need for forgiveness. Rather than bitterness.
Very publicly, it was Christ-likeness in action.
And it was fascinating, reading the article in this last few days. That even the lawyer for one of the murderers had this to say. Her name's Leigh Johnston. And when she's asked what's stayed with her in the 17 years since the trial, she says the one bright spot that's still in her mind, a hardened criminal lawyer, is the attitude of Grace and Garry Lynch, Anita's parents. She says, "The one bright spot for me was the Lynches. If anyone had the right to be vindictive, it was them. And yet they've managed to rise above it." A lawyer's one positive memory against all the blackness, was the light of one faithful Christian couple. Who could have been bitter. But chose not to be.
For most of us, our Christlikeness isn't put to the test to that same extent. And not put on display in the media the same way either. But in the smaller challenges, how is it going to be for you? Time to put off the old self. And put on the new.