Why walk in the light?

[0:00] Thank you very much. We're going to be spending some time, God willing, in Ephesians from chapter 4 on chapter 5 and chapter 6.

[0:16] ! I'll tell you the aim of it in a moment. Let's give you an introduction first. Have you been to any of the Brighton Artists' open houses? No. You should, because there's some really beautiful things. It's not all equally beautiful, but there are some very talented people, very gifted people in Brighton and Hove, and there's some wonderful things.

[0:40] And you don't have to pay. You just wander into an open house. Don't wander into any house. Wander into an open house. And I'll give you a free plug for my friend Curtis, who lives on the corner just of Clyde Road there.

[0:57] And I think he's showing him some of his stuff in Mose, where they have the coffee. Curtis is a very gifted artist. He's done some watercolours of the streets around here.

[1:07] He's done a watercolour of London Road Station. And to see local things that God's put there and that people have built, and to see the beauty in that is a real gift.

[1:22] And it makes you say, he's a fine artist. He's created works of art. What workmanship, the way that he does the brush, chooses the colours, the way he uses the paintbrush is fantastic.

[1:41] And you say, it's a good, it makes you praise him. And so too, Christians are a work of art made by the great artist himself.

[1:56] With the purpose that people would look at Christians and say, what a fantastic craftsman has made these beautiful things.

[2:10] And it actually says that in chapter 2, verse 10. It says, we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.

[2:21] And it says in chapter 2, verse 7, that we will show the incomparable riches of his grace.

[2:32] So there's something that in time to come, people will look at Christians and say, what a wonderful, gracious God has made these people.

[2:42] How unexpected. We are like found art, upcycled. You've seen that programme where the woman goes to a dump and intercepts people who are trying to throw away some rubbish.

[2:56] And says, oh no, don't throw that away. We can make that into something really nice. It's just me seeing that one. This is what God has done.

[3:09] He has taken stuff that was destined for the rubbish dump. Said, no, don't throw that away. We can do something with that. We can redeem that. Even though it's unexpected.

[3:21] God does the impossible. He takes things. He says, you won't make anything nice out of that. But he makes beautiful people. And it's a matter not only of skill and power, but kindness.

[3:38] Because it's not just a piece of impersonal rubbish that he's rescued, but people. Us. People who actually didn't deserve.

[3:50] Actually people who deserved something to be left on the rubbish heap. Undeserving wretches he has shown kindness to. And the aim of the sermon is that we would understand how this impacts us.

[4:11] This is how Paul writes in Ephesians. He tells them how much God has done. And he ends up saying, I want this process to work through.

[4:21] So that you are becoming beautiful, useful, appreciative children of the Heavenly Father.

[4:34] And he's going to spell this out in terms of communities. So in chapter 4, which is what Arsema kindly read to us. It tells you all about community life.

[4:46] Speak truth to one another. We're all members of one body. And things like that. He's saying, I want to build in this dark world little bright lights, shining communities.

[4:59] Which say to the world, there is a God. He is a great saviour. A skillful workman. A gracious redeemer.

[5:12] And this is what he makes. In terms of communities. In terms of witness. In other words, that this shines out. That people say, something about that church.

[5:25] Something about those people. Which I can't explain. Apart from the fact there is a God. It's going to spill out in terms of the way husbands and wives relate to one another.

[5:37] That should be and. I have incorrectly spelt and rather than partially spelt Asda. He's going to explain what a beautiful marriage looks like.

[5:52] What makes it beautiful. And he's going to relate that to Jesus Christ. He's going to explain what a godly family looks like in chapter 6 verses 1 to 4.

[6:03] What it's like to bring up children. They won't necessarily become believers in the end. That's not guaranteed. But the way people relate to one another in families. And he's going to end up saying also, as employees.

[6:20] As you go to work Monday to Friday or whatever shifts you work. That people will say, do you know that employee that I have? Something rather remarkable about them.

[6:31] Or to be a good employer. And he's also going to say, the people that I want to produce are going to be spiritual soldiers in the ongoing battle.

[6:45] And they're going to be people of prayer and faith and so on. That's where he's going to end up. And that's where I'd like the sermons to end up. I'm not going to achieve all of that in one sermon. We're just going to look today at chapter 4 verses 17 to 24.

[6:59] Which will, I think, set us up for this whole process of the craftsmanship and the transformation that God is at work to do.

[7:11] So let's do a bit of English grammar first of all. Which brings me well into line with government policy, doesn't it? So we're going to move from indicatives to imperatives.

[7:22] So the only people who will understand what indicatives and imperatives are are the language school students. So you're one up on everybody else if you're studying English today. The indicatives is what is.

[7:34] So an indicative would be, he hit the ball with a bat. That's an indicative. An imperative is what you must do.

[7:46] So an imperative would be, hit the ball with a bat. You see the difference between those? One is saying what is. It's a fact. The other is saying what ought to happen. And in this bit of Ephesians, we're moving from indicatives to imperatives.

[8:00] And let's look at some of the indicatives. What God has done for us and to us and in us. And then it moves to what we must do.

[8:13] And so we'll look at those details in a moment. No. I've got myself in a muddle. Let's go back. It moves from what God has done to what we must do.

[8:29] We'll see that in a moment. So I won't stop to spell out the detail on that. And the thing that sticks in my mind, and this might just be a roadblock in my mind, is how do you move from an indicative to an imperative?

[8:44] How do we say to one another, God has forgiven us, therefore we should live in a certain way?

[8:55] Because I think it would be easy for us to say, well, God's forgiven me. Why should I bother to live in a certain way? I'll just carry on as I used to do. But the Bible will not let us say that.

[9:08] The Bible always says, you've come to Jesus Christ. He's forgiven you, adopted you, blessed you, in a way which we'll see in another slide in a moment. But that means you must live in a certain way.

[9:22] So we'll be looking at that why. Why must I? In order to motivate us. There's a little bit of how and a little bit of what. So let's look at the text where it says, verse 17, So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord, you must no longer live as the Gentiles do.

[9:43] Okay, that's an imperative, isn't it? You must no longer live as the Gentiles do. And the very first word is, so.

[9:59] So. Now where's the so come from? So the so is saying, because of what I've said before, you must no longer live as the Gentiles do. So let's stop on the so.

[10:13] Oh, that's, I would say, because of the indicatives. Oh dear. Well, what are the indicatives? Let's look at some of the indicatives. Some of the things that God has done. Chapter 1, verses 4 and 5.

[10:28] Indicative. God has blessed you, has chosen to bless you, before you were even born. That's what it says. God chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

[10:42] In his love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. So, first indicative that we come to here. When did God think about blessing me?

[10:54] When did he think about it? Answer. He's always thought about it. When did God first have me in mind?

[11:04] I don't know, if you're a romantic person, you might remember the first date you ever had with such and such a person. You remember that? It all started back there in the moonlight on, you know, whatever it is.

[11:19] But God does not say, oh, it just began back in 1945 or back in 1982 or back in, whenever God says, I started this romance before the world was made.

[11:39] And in answer to the question, what was God thinking about before he made the world? If you're a Christian, the answer is you. Isn't that an amazing thought?

[11:50] There's an indicative to ponder. Chapter 1, verse 7, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us.

[12:05] We have the forgiveness of sins. All the sociologists and psychologists and psychiatrists can tell us what we are guilty of and where the guilt lies, but none of them can point us to a way in which this guilt can be washed away, cleansed, removed completely.

[12:34] Only the gospel shows us that. It's in Jesus Christ who died on the cross. He is the source of this redemption of which it says God gave us in richness the riches of his grace which he lavished on us.

[12:53] Personally, I think that's fantastic. I don't know whether you agree. Verses 9 and 10. I better not shout. I'm just annoying the children, I think.

[13:04] He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment.

[13:18] He made known to us the good purpose, sorry, the mystery, no, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure. So he has got a plan to reunite the whole universe to make it all new and he's included us in that plan and told us about it.

[13:44] Now to be honest, you would be a bit surprised if Councillor Jill Mitchell bothered to tell you what the plans were for putting communal buildings in Viaduct Road.

[13:59] Wouldn't you? If she rang you up and said, I'll tell you what, I've got some plans to put buildings, would you, what do you think about this? I'd like to involve you in this. I mean, goodness, you'd be surprised.

[14:11] But what it says here, God has involved us in his great purpose for restoring the universe. I want you to be part of this. So, there's lots of indicatives, lots of amazing things that he says.

[14:28] If we go into chapter 2, he says in verse 5 and onwards, he says, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.

[14:40] so there's, it's just like a co-making alive, co-enlivened. He enlivened Christ and he scooped us up with him. He co-enlivened us with Christ.

[14:53] He, when we were dead, made us alive with Christ. Verse 6, he raised us up with Christ and when we were stuck on the bottom, when we were just as low as could be, he raised us up with Christ.

[15:11] As he raised Christ, he raised us too and he seated us, verse 6, chapter 2, verse 6, he co-seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. There's a sense in which even as you're sitting on a blue chair, it might be a comfy blue chair or an uncomfy blue chair.

[15:25] They put the uncomfy blue chairs at the back to encourage people to sit at the front. But you are sitting on a blue chair of some description. It says, simultaneously, in some sense, you are seated in heavenly places with Christ.

[15:42] That's what it says. And it's all by what the Bible calls grace, which is a big, big word, but we begin to dip our toes in the water of that if we think that God's done so much for us who so don't deserve it.

[16:03] It's a, it's that sort of word. And it's an amazing grace. Be a good title for a song. Somebody ought to write a song called that.

[16:15] Or a book even. It is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this, not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast for we are God's workmanship where God gets 100% of the credit.

[16:35] What a fantastic creator to make saved people like this. So those are some of the indicatives and I want to emphasize that.

[16:47] So what we're going on to talk about is how we're to live. Now in Roman Catholic theology, I think the way that you would get to what your duty is, is to make you uncertain, to make you guilty, to make you fearful, and to say because of guilt and fear and uncertainty you better try harder.

[17:12] Now that is not the biblical motivation. The biblical motivation is the exact opposite. It says the things we're going to say now are not because of your insecurity and uncertainty, certainty, but because of the great, certain, secure love that is, that wraps you up in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[17:38] Because you've been blessed so much, that's the motivation. Did I make that reasonably clear? Let's see how that works itself out. good. Okay, so we're looking at the why should I do this, the motivation aspects.

[17:54] And I've got a little illustration here, which might be helpful, and I'll come back to this. So let's just, have, so we looked at the so, so we've just looked at one word so far, so I'd better go a bit quicker.

[18:10] So here's a theme, which I think will help us. So this is a car restoration theme. So if you're not into cars, just use a bit of imagination. So suppose you have an old banger, okay, there's an old banger.

[18:24] Some of actually have old bangers. So it's got a funny sort of design to it, it's rusty, it doesn't work properly, it's an old banger. Yeah, old banger?

[18:35] Yes? And there's a project to turn it into this wonderful sleek, it's a sort of midlife crisis car, isn't it?

[18:46] It's a wonderful sleek, and in case you're worrying, you're thinking this is a bit unethical, it's going to take a lot of petrol, it's an eco car, okay, it's eco. So that's what it's going to, we're going to take this old banger, and the way we're going to get from one to the other is we're going to use parts from the old banger.

[19:04] We're going to take it to pieces, we're going to sort of lengthen the chassis a bit, and we're going to put a new engine in it, and we're going to reassemble it, and it'll become this sleek eco racer.

[19:19] So have that idea in mind, and I'll come back to that, so you get the idea of it, don't you? Yeah, okay. So let's look at the motivation of this, of why he's telling us to live as he does, which I've summarized, to walk in the light, but anyway.

[19:42] So he says, verse 17, so I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you no longer live, literally walk, as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

[19:58] Gentiles means the people who don't know God, the people who don't belong to God, that's how he's using the word here, the nations, the people who don't know God. So just take that a bit at a time.

[20:34] He says, no, you no longer walk, as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. You don't think the way you used to think.

[20:49] Why should I walk in the light? Because you no longer think like you used to. You used to walk like the Gentiles, those who are not God's people, people.

[21:04] And the particular thing that he says, so do notice this, is the particular thing that used to be, is the way you used to think. Is that right?

[21:17] Verse 17, in the futility of their, what's the word? Thinking. They are darkened in their, 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.

[21:39] To restrain that eagerness, Julia. Yeah, so there's an emphasis on the way they think.

[21:51] How do the nations think? how did you used to think before you became a Christian? Well, here's some suggestions that thinking of people who don't know God is without anchorage, it's without direction, it's without purpose.

[22:16] There is no solid ground for their thinking, it just sort of floats freely. there is no direction, forward, back, good, no, bad, good, worse, better, there's no direction, and there's no purpose.

[22:36] Why are we here? For, I don't know really, just some thoughts about futile thinking, and he says, because their thinking is futile, they are separated from the life of God.

[22:52] God, they don't have bubbling up inside them, the life, the spirit, the enabling, the power, the strengthening of God.

[23:05] Because they are thinking wrong, they are separated, cut off from, the power lines are cut, snip, no connection to the life of God.

[23:17] God. And if you would like a little illustration of how wrong thinking can cut a relationship, just in a minor way, next time you're at home, and people do things for you, if you put into your mind, oh, it's not worth saying thank you, or if you say, oh, it's not worth saying thank you to a person like that, it's not worth saying please, you'll be surprised how quickly you cut yourself off from a living relationship to that person.

[23:56] And it's said here that the Gentiles, how we used to be, their whole way of thinking separates them, their futile thinking, their unfruitful thinking, separates us from the life of God.

[24:16] And of course the deepest thought pattern of those who don't know God is that God is not worth revering. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God, and it is a characteristic of our age that people say, well, there's no God to fear, there's no God that we need to please, there's no God that we're responsible to, there's a deep fundamental irreverence, irreverence, lack of reverence, which characterises therefore a whole thought pattern which is futile.

[24:58] So number one, why should I walk in the light? Answer, you don't think the way you used to think. You've got a new thought pattern, we'll see that in a moment.

[25:13] Answer number two, you no longer hand yourselves over to what you used to hand yourselves over to. Look at verses 18 and 19. It says they have ignorance, hardening of their hearts, having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality, so as to indulge with every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more.

[25:44] So it says they handed themselves over to something. It's the same word I think that's used of betraying Jesus actually. They handed him over and put him in the power of the Romans.

[25:58] And it says here that the nations, that's people who don't know God, hand themselves over to a life of, well whatever it says there.

[26:10] And that's what it used to be but now it's different for you. Let's look and see what he says. He says they have got hardened hearts and they have lost all sensitivity, verse 19.

[26:28] That sensitivity, sensitivity. What he's talking about is the conscience by which people sense, detect the pain of doing something that doesn't please God.

[26:44] Which is why I thought it would be good just to remind the children this morning of what conscience is. It's pain when we go against what God says. And Paul is saying that the characteristic drift of the nations without God is that they get hardened, they lose that sensitivity and they don't any longer feel the pain when they go against God.

[27:08] So Aaron and I were discussing this in terms of guitar playing. So when you play a guitar like this with steel strings, you lose the fingerprints on your left hand because they just get worn away and your fingers get harder and harder because it's quite painful to play one of those things until you get hard skin and you don't feel the pain anymore.

[27:31] And he's saying that this is what happens to the society that they get to the point where they don't feel any pain of going against what God is really against.

[27:45] So if without trying to get into any deep water here, if you look at the way the discussion about transgender stuff is discussed, discussed, it is, I think we could at least say this, it is not discussed in the sense of let's be careful what God wants.

[28:05] Let's just see what God says about this because this is so fundamental. God must care about this. Let's be very careful we don't tread on any broken glass in this or move something that's hot.

[28:21] People don't care about that. There is no sense of that at all, is there? Having lost all sensitivity. He talks about hardened hearts and a loss of sensitivity.

[28:36] And he says that they give themselves over to sensuality, you could perhaps say shamelessness, working, it says to indulge in every kind of impurity, so I translated it working uncleanness.

[28:55] And then the last expression, with a continual lust for more, is interpreting some idea of increase and pushing forward again and again.

[29:06] It's usually the word for greed. So he paints a very bleak, no, not a very bleak, a very, morally, a very morally unwholesome picture of society without God.

[29:35] By God's grace, not all societies without God are as bad as they could be, and certainly not all Christians are as bad as they could be. That's God's grace. But he's talking about the inner thinking, the inner dynamic of this.

[29:50] To which you might object, I never did such bad things. But I could ask you, what do you hand yourselves over to?

[30:02] As you, let's suppose you're not a Christian this morning, you've come along, perhaps you feel a bit offended by all of this that's being said, you say, I'm not like this, and I could say, well, what have you handed yourself over to?

[30:15] What do you see in your life? What do you say are the good things in your life that you count good? And you might say, well, the good things in my life are my holidays, the good things in my life are my food, my entertainment.

[30:33] You might even say, the bright spot in my life is drugs, alcohol. alcohol. We might say, wouldn't touch any of that. The thing that I'm really working forward to is having enough money.

[30:48] And I would say, well, that's interesting because all of those things you described, none of them is the glory of the God who made you, is it? Do you not think that the God who made you ought to take number one place?

[31:04] Do you not think that whatever thinking that you have which excludes him can't actually be right? Well, oh yes, I've got something here about what you'd value in relationships.

[31:21] What does GSOH stand for? Good sense of humour, that's right. Relationships, fun, pleasure, self-fulfillment.

[31:32] It's interesting that in the Bible, it uses these words for good relationships, relationships. That's a foreign language, hesed, emeth, rachum. But you know what hesed means, don't you?

[31:46] Hesed is absolutely steadfast love. Emeth is faithfulness. Rachum is compassion.

[31:59] Those are the things that God says are the valuable things in relationships. relationships. Anyway, let's move on. So he's working on motivating us and he's not saying if you do wrong, God will punish you, but he's saying this is what God has made you.

[32:18] That's what you were, this is what God has made you. He's making you into this sleek, eco, wonderful vehicle. And the argument is not be careful, you'll go to hell if you do the wrong thing.

[32:34] The argument is be what God has made you. Be what you are and don't be what you're not. So what he's said so far is this is how you used to walk, you used to be like the old banger, that's how you used to go, but now this is what you are.

[32:57] Be what you are, live how God's made you. Okay, let's look at a third answer to this question, why. So let's break down the next few verses which is verse 20.

[33:09] You, however, did not come to learn Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

[33:24] Now once again, I ask you to notice the sort of things he's drawing people's attention to. He is not asking them to think about how passionate they are, although I'm sure that's a useful thing to be.

[33:40] He's not asking them to know how thrilled they are. He's not actually asking them really about how they feel, but he is asking them about what they have learnt. That's correct, isn't it?

[33:51] You did not come to, actually the word is learn Christ that way, surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

[34:02] You were taught, etc. So this is all to do with the things that people have come to know. And the knowing word is very similar to a disciple.

[34:15] It's knowing in the way a disciple knows, to learn and follow and put into practice. You heard, you were taught, he's not talking, he's emphasising here the importance of the mind, the thought, the learning discipleship and not asking them how they feel about it.

[34:37] So let me ask you, what Christ have you learnt? So if you're a Christian, you have come to Christ, you've learnt Christ. What Christ have you learnt?

[34:49] So I would say that the Christ in the Bible is one of the beautiful and noticeable features about his life, is the way that he constantly loved to obey his father.

[35:06] So the Christ that we have learnt is an obedient serving Christ, that would be correct wouldn't it, that's who he is. And the Christ whom we have learnt is the very opposite of ugly sinfulness.

[35:25] The Christ that we have learnt, you know the, oh you won't know this will you, the Maharishi Maharishi Yogi whatever it was that the Beatles thought was fantastic.

[35:36] This is ancient history isn't it to most of you, I'm so sorry. The Beatles who were a pop group took an interest in Eastern spirituality and they went off to this yogi teacher and he had an ashram, a sort of a discipleship school in India and they all came along there and they thought he was fantastic until they learnt that he cheated with some of the lady students and that he was not trustworthy with money and that he was as greedy as anybody else and they were just completely turned off by the inconsistencies of this so-called religious teacher and I say if you look at Jesus Christ do you see any of that sort of stuff?

[36:27] No, you don't find any of that you find a total sincerity selflessness the very opposite of ugly sinfulness you find actually a Christ who could say let me quote you what he did say he said I am gentle and humble in heart that's what he said a Christ who was not selfish or putting himself forward in that sense I mean he was perfectly honest about himself he would say I'm the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father but by me how could he say anything different but he said I'm humble and gentle he's a servant Christ who says I came into this world to serve you should follow me in this we have a reliable

[37:32] Christ who if he says he'll do something does it a totally reliable why not read the accounts of Jesus and make your own form your own view I think nothing I'm saying here is wrong he's he showed to his disciples the hesed that the Lord God showed to Israel he just sticks with them faithfully he keeps his word and is reliable and he's a compassionate Christ who cared about the little children that the disciples thought he'd be too busy for that and the leper and the widow and he a caring person these are all the sorts of things that you learned about Jesus Christ this is the Christ you learned and he says follow me he says walk walk with me so that was answer number three how you learnt

[38:39] Christ the Christ that you learnt and answer number four he says you heard of the truth that is in Jesus now I'm full of interest to know what I put in there in this because I can't remember the points I made so we'll see what what what what what is the truth as it is in Jesus are three things follow the sentence if you would you were taught verse 22 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 like God in true righteousness and holiness so what truths in Jesus have we learned these three to put off the old person to be renewed to put on the new person let's take them one at a time to put off the old person do you remember

[39:44] Jesus saying to Simon Peter you are Simon you will be called Peter that's who you are Simon but you're going to be a new person and I'm going to give you a new name Peter Peter is linked with the word for rock so it's like saying you'll be called Rocky now so Simon Peter behave like Peter and when you think you're doing something Simon ish just put that off put off the old person can we do the old banger thing so oh there's the old banger if we're going to get anywhere in this transformation you need to put off the old rusty wheels you need to put off that old broken engine you need to put off the old rusty body work don't put that on again put it off and he says this is the way the old life worked in verse 22 it's being corrupted by its deceitful desires if you think of the rustiness working away in the old body work of the car get rid of that if you were doing that on a car you cut it out or sand it off or remove it in some way put that off so he's saying you need to think now you've got a new way of thinking which we'll come to in a moment but you need to think is such and such a form of behaviour is it old so

[41:25] I need to put it off or is it the new stuff put off and I and I could give you a list of the old things that he says to put off so in verse 26 he says it talks about anger don't let the sun go down while you're still angry so if your characteristic in life has been when something goes wrong you get angry what do you think!

[41:52] you'll do! that's the old stuff he says put that off that belongs to the old life that old banger way of behaving verse 29 he says do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up where have I got to from this don't let unwholesome talk come out of your mouth so if you were characteristically in your old life you would swear and insult and in a sort of bitchy snide way talk about people's faults that's the old stuff put that off the way you talk don't let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up I've got a reference to verse 13 where did I get that from do I mean 31 yeah that would be about right yes thank you very much get rid of all bitterness rage and anger so maybe you think you've got a way of thinking which is bitter those people all those years ago what they did to me

[43:06] I shall never forget that that's that stuff to put off you get rid of bitterness rage anger get rid of that stuff that's the old stuff chapter 5 verse 4 neither should there be obscenity foolish talk or coarse joking which are out of place but rather thanksgiving so maybe you were pretty good at dirty jokes and he says that's the old stuff you get rid of that it doesn't belong to the new model that you're becoming and sexual behaviour chapter 5 verse 11 have nothing to do with the fruitful deeds of darkness but rather expose them so unclean sexual behaviour pornography that's the old stuff you get rid of that put off the old person truth in Jesus number two you have learned to be renewed in the attitude of your minds or more literally to be made new in the spirit of your minds again it comes back to the way you think the attitude you take and if

[44:23] I can quote again what Jesus said in Matthew 11 28 he said he was humble that he said this take my yoke upon you and learn from me I'm just think of that learning learn to think the way I think learn to see things the way I see them be renewed in the spirit of your mind so the new mind and interestingly Paul this isn't just a one-off way he talks this way if you look at Romans 8 verses 5 and 6 would you like to look at Romans 8 verses 5 and 6 it says those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires but those who live in accordance with the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires so there's an old mindedness the mind of the flesh more literally and there's a new mind which is the spiritual mind which sees things the way the spirit sees things and he says be renewed in your mind that's what you've learnt in

[45:49] Jesus and interestingly he says the same thing in Romans 12 or a similar thing he says do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind and you might be thinking how come Paul gets things wrong so often why is he saying this well actually he's getting it right he's telling us something isn't he think in a spiritual way now some of us have been working through some pastoral issues with various people people and some things are quite difficult to know the way forward but it's interesting that Paul says what you need to do is think it through spiritually have an attitude to this based on spiritual values so here's an example of the fact that a number of people in our church have the burden of working shifts so can't get to meetings very often how should we think of that spiritually

[47:04] I think we should think of that as saying actually that's a considerable problem spiritually speaking and that really is something we should be praying about because it's such a big problem to pray that somehow the shifts would work out better or perhaps a new job or something because shifts well everybody works shifts well spiritually let's see through spiritual eyes let's think of it through the renewed mind it's problematic that was just a little example and the third thing that he says Ephesians I've lost my place to put on the new self to put on the new person you've learned to put off the old to be new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new person so there's the new person and you're putting on the new bits so bolt on the new engine get rid of that funny old one put on the new engine put on the new super duper wheels put on the new super shiny windscreen put on the new stuff and that has got to be built in because he says you've been made new look at he says verse 24 to put on a new self created to be like

[48:41] God in true righteousness and holiness those are the things that we're now putting on righteousness holiness trueness I think true in the sense that if you buy if you buy wood from it's all bent like that it's not true and you want something that's straight and true and he says put into your lives not the twistedness but the trueness of righteousness and holiness so that's what I wanted us to look at this morning there's the picture of it moving from the old banger to the with stuff being put off and stuff being put on the picture of walking in the light walking with the

[49:43] Lord God is in the business of making beautiful people out of old bangers in are you in Jesus Christ first question because this is all to do with people who've been blessed by being saved through Jesus and if you're not there then of course that's the first thing you need to sort out second thing Paul insists that we must walk this way the reasons being you don't think the way you used to number two you've handed yourselves over to a different regime to what you were in before thirdly in Christ you've learnt you learnt a certain Christ and you learnt in him to put off certain things and oh dear to be renewed in the way you think and to put off sorry put off be renewed!

[50:50] at the end let's sing together we're going to sing number oh it isn't the number is it 962 926 do we have 926 oh we do I need to bother putting it on the screen I thought it was one of these that we hadn't got the ah right okay