And let's read together.
We're going to read a passage from the New Testament, from Ephesians chapter 4, verses 17 to 24.
A very famous moment in Paul's letter.
And so this is God's word to us today.
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.
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 callous.
They've given themselves up to sensuality and greed, to practice every kind of impurity.
But that is not the way you learned Christ.
Assuming that 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 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 and true righteousness and holiness.
Amen.
This is God's holy word.
In verse 17 here, just to look at this passage for a few minutes with you,
in verse 17, Paul says this command,
Do not walk any longer as the Gentiles do.
And just before that, he says,
Now this I say and I testify to the Lord.
Now when he says,
I testify to the Lord,
it's a way, it's a phrase he uses to say,
I speak right now with the authority of God.
So the commands I'm about to give you are the very word of God.
I speak with the authority of the Lord.
Do not walk as the Gentiles do in darkness.
Now what does he mean by that?
By the word Gentile, Gentile sometimes in the Bible is used for anybody that's not Jewish.
But here that's not what he means, not at all.
He's talking to the Ephesians in Ephesus,
and there in Ephesus there is a grand temple,
very famous, the Temple of Artemis.
And at the Temple of Artemis,
it's the organizing principle of the whole city of Ephesus.
And people go there day in and day out to worship all the gods,
and they do so in all kinds of practices.
And it's known as a city where people worship the gods
and live in any way that they want to live.
So it was known as a party city,
a place of a lot of darkness at times.
And Paul says,
if you've become a Christian,
if you've experienced the grace of Jesus in your life,
if God has brought light through the cross and resurrection of Christ to you,
if you believe in Jesus,
don't live that life anymore.
Don't walk in the way the city teaches you to walk.
Put away the normal patterns of the culture.
In other words,
the word Gentile there just means the normal patterns and assumptions
of the default culture of sinful humanity.
It just means that by default,
we're all carried into the patterns of our culture.
And he said,
but put that away.
You've become a Christian.
Your life has been changed.
That's what he says.
Now,
that means,
he's talking about something very important on New Year's Day.
Verse 15,
just before this,
we didn't read this.
He says,
grow up in every way into him like Jesus.
And so he says,
he says,
the goal,
the goal of life,
grow up in every way like Jesus Christ.
Put away the normal patterns and assumptions of the culture around you.
Now,
what is Paul talking about there?
He's talking about change.
He's talking about deep change in your life.
Put away the normal patterns that the culture teaches you,
and instead,
put on,
become like Christ.
Deep change.
That is what every single person on January 1st,
2025 wants.
We want change this year.
We want to be different.
We want this year to be better than last year.
Of course,
always.
Every new year,
we want that.
And I was reading this week an article about change and about the industries that make the most money in January every single year.
Some of them you will absolutely expect,
right?
So,
of course,
who profits most from January 1st?
Deep desire to change.
Gym memberships,
obviously,
are always the number one.
Book sales increase immensely in January.
Counseling and therapy clinics and centers go up by at least 15% on average in the UK and the States by the stats I read in January.
The unexpected were not surprising,
but I hadn't thought about financial advisors,
budgeting apps.
After Christmas,
you've got to get a budgeting app.
And lastly,
language learning software,
Babel,
Duolingo.
Duolingo makes almost all of its money from January subscriptions.
Why?
Because we want to change.
Every single person wants to change.
Paul tells you here,
let me just give you three things about change here for this year,
very briefly,
that Paul says.
First,
he says that Christianity actually can provide for you the goal of change,
a real goal,
something to actually change into.
And so,
he says in verse 15,
grow up in every way into the maturity of becoming like Jesus.
And then he says,
and put away the patterns of darkness that the culture teaches you.
What does he mean by that?
I can only give you one thing he means by it today.
Verse 19.
In verse 19,
he says,
the Gentiles have given themselves,
the normal culture has given itself up to sensuality,
greed,
and to practice every kind of impurity.
Now,
what does he say?
What does he say?
Giving yourself over.
This is Paul's special way of saying,
it is the normal default pattern of every culture,
because of our human disposition towards sin and rebellion against God,
to love and to get addicted to things in this life more than we love God.
He says,
they've given themselves over.
And it means that the normal pattern of culture in Ephesus and in Edinburgh in 2024
is to love,
what does he list?
Greed and sensuality,
sexuality,
lust,
money,
bank account,
success,
every type of thing you can get your hands on in this life,
to make something of yourself,
to find meaning in this life.
He says,
the normal default position of human beings is that we will chase anything we can in this life
to make something of ourselves.
That real change,
most people are seeking change in 2025.
And what change is that?
They want to make more money.
They want to be more successful.
They want to get a hold of their career.
They want to have more relationships,
better relationships.
And he says,
that's actually the default pattern,
the sense that the most important things in our lives is money,
bank account,
wealth,
success.
And he says,
but no,
that's thinking in darkness.
It's not walking in the true light.
What does he say?
Verse 15,
every single human being is made with one ultimate goal.
It is what we really want.
It is the change that we really need.
And that is to make this year about becoming more like Jesus.
That the thing that we really need,
no matter what the circumstances are,
no matter bank account,
no matter success or failure in your career,
is to become more like Christ.
That's the true goal,
the true resolution,
the ultimate resolution,
is to become more and more like Christ this year.
It's,
I think,
pretty common today in therapy,
counseling,
the books that will be purchased in January,
even maybe through a friend,
that it's pretty easy for us to identify
the problems that we struggle with in our lives.
You can go to counseling.
You can go to therapy.
You can pick up a lot of really good books
at Blackwell's and Waterstones.
And they will help you realize
that maybe you struggle with greed.
Maybe you struggle with careerism.
You're too dedicated to it.
Maybe you struggle with relationship
after relationship after relationship.
You chase and you chase and you chase.
The modern world has gotten pretty good
at identifying the problems.
It's not too hard to see.
Your friend can tell you
if you don't know what your big problem is.
But then who should you become?
You know,
you can go
and get all these really good helps
to identify the problems
that you have deep down in your life,
in your soul,
that everybody else around you
maybe can see already.
But then the question is left,
okay, you've put away greed,
but now what?
What's the goal?
Who should you become?
And Christianity comes and says
there is one supreme goal in this life,
and it's to become more and more conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ Himself.
Will you think about this?
Will you make 2025
a year
where you say,
I want to experience
more and more
the wisdom
of Jesus Christ in my life?
I want to experience
more and more
the courage of Christ,
the insight,
the passion,
the zeal
for life and ministry
that He had,
the compassion
for people.
I want this year
to be a year
where I'll become
more patient,
more loving,
more faithful,
more gentle,
more meek,
more mild,
more strong,
courageous like He was.
I want to,
I want above all else
much more
than I want to learn French
on Duolingo,
much more than that.
I want
to have the overwhelming joy
that Jesus Christ has.
And Paul says in verse 15
that that is exactly
what you're made for,
to become more and more like Him.
So second,
how,
the path,
how can you get there,
the path to change?
Paul says here,
very briefly,
number one,
let me give you two,
two ways to seek this.
The first is this.
Paul says,
be who you are this year.
Be who you are.
What does he mean?
He says,
stop walking in the cultural addictions
of the Gentiles,
the normal default rhythm
of the culture of Ephesus
or Edinburgh.
And he says,
instead,
that is not the way
you learn Christ.
And so,
down here,
he turns
and uses three verbs
to talk about,
these educational verbs
to talk about
the way to change.
And he says,
it's not the way
you learn Christ.
It's not what you've heard.
It's not what you've been taught.
And immediately,
there's a sense
in which you might come
and say,
is Paul here talking about,
well,
the real path
to become like Jesus?
The real path
to seek change in my life
is education.
You know,
he says,
that's not the way
you learned Christ.
That's not the way
you were taught.
That's not the way
you heard.
I need to be educated more.
I need to be more,
I need to merely
have more discipline
and more education
and I can become
more and more like Christ
and reach my goals.
And it starts to sound like,
if you go that route,
like Christianity
has become
like every other world religion.
That deep change
in your life
is something that you have
to completely do
by yourself.
It's about education.
It's about discipline.
It's about a path
that you pursue.
It's the same sense
in which Islam comes
and says,
look,
if you want to experience
change in your life,
there's a five-fold path,
five pillars.
If the Buddha came
and what did he say?
He said,
there's an eight-fold path
to have deep change
in your life,
change that lasts,
change that matters.
And you can come today
and you can have
really good helps
in your life,
practices,
cognitive behavioral therapy,
all sorts of things
that are very, very good.
But for a moment,
it could come across
and seem here
like Paul is talking
about some kind of pathway
that you pursue
of education
to better yourself
and to really seek
to become like Jesus
in your life.
And verse 22
is absolutely critical,
absolutely key.
What does he say
in verse 22?
He says,
put to,
you've learned this,
to put off your old self,
which belongs
to your former manner
of life
and is corrupt
through deceitful desires
and to be renewed
in the spirit of your minds
and to put on the new self.
Now he says,
you've got to put off
your old self,
you've got to put on
your new self,
but look,
you've got to see,
you've got to be
really careful here
and to see exactly
what Paul says
for just one minute.
And it's this,
John Stott,
the great English commentator,
he points this out.
He says,
when you really look
at these verbs,
when you really look
at the language
that's being used here,
this language,
to put off your old self,
look,
it's not the way
you learned Christ.
No,
put off your old self.
No,
it doesn't say that.
It says,
to put off your old self
and to put on
your new self,
the new self.
And John Stott says this,
these are past tense,
middle infinitive verbs.
Right?
Yeah?
Past tense,
middle infinitives.
That's very important.
Why is it so important?
It's important.
Okay,
move on from that.
It's important for this reason.
Because it could be
translated like this,
having put off
your old self
and having put on
your new self,
be renewed.
Meaning,
he's not talking about here,
he's not talking here
about a command.
He's not saying,
this year,
the most important thing
you can do
is put off your old self
and put off your new self.
That's not the first thing.
No.
He's saying,
having put off your old self
and having already received
the new self,
renew your mind.
Meaning,
he's saying
that when you come
to Jesus Christ,
the change
has already happened.
It's already happened.
Now,
the first thing
that Paul says
the pathway to change
is this year,
2025,
you've got to be
who you are.
You've got to be
who you are.
What is he saying?
You know,
you look at yourself
and say,
but I am greedy.
I am selfish.
I do struggle
with lusts
of all kinds,
loving things
in this world
far too much.
The old man,
the old self in me
is doing a lot of battle
and sometimes winning.
But here,
Paul says,
no,
your old self
has already been taken away.
And you've got to see
what he's saying.
He's saying,
the first thing,
when God looks at you
through Jesus,
because of Jesus,
he sees an emerald.
He sees a diamond.
He sees a finished product.
He sees somebody
who is beautiful
in character
and integrity.
Why?
Because when Jesus Christ
went to the cross,
he took on
all of your injustice.
This is the metaphor
of clothing.
He took on
the clothing
of your selfishness.
He took on
the clothing
of your injustice
so that you could
receive his clothing,
the clothing of his righteousness,
so that you could be
in God's sight
made beautiful,
pronounced beautiful,
even though you're struggling,
even though you aren't always.
First thing,
and we'll move
to the final point,
Christianity is unlike
every other world religion,
everything on offer
in the bookshelf
at Waterstones.
There's nothing like it
because what it says
is this,
the true path to change,
to becoming like Christ,
is to first see
that when you come
to faith in Jesus,
God changes you.
In his sight,
you are pronounced clean,
forgiven,
beautiful,
having the character
of Jesus Christ himself
even though
it's not visible yet.
Be who you are.
Lastly,
that means,
okay,
what do you do with that?
How do you really
take a hold of that
in your life this year?
Let me get very practical
and very,
right here at the
very end.
Okay,
he says this,
practice this change.
All right,
now that you know,
if you've come to Jesus,
if you have faith
in your life,
in God's eyes,
you are already
an emerald.
And now you've got
to practice that.
And so,
yes,
now the command,
put off your old self,
be renewed
in the spirit of your mind,
and put on the new self.
Paul says,
how do you do that?
All he means is this,
first,
put off the old self,
now practice this,
be who you are,
practice it,
take it up,
take hold of these goods
that you've been given.
Here's how you do it.
First,
putting off the old self
simply means this,
it means that when you are alone,
you've got to live
in the presence of God
in that moment.
Putting off the old self
means that in the most
important moments of your life,
which are the small moments,
the moments,
especially when you are
by yourself,
you've got to embrace
the reality that you are
living in the presence of God.
Put away the old self.
That means when temptation comes,
you've got to fight,
fight,
to say in that moment,
I am in the presence
of the living God,
and I've already been changed,
and I want to live into that.
It's all about the small moments,
not the big moments,
the small moments.
And then he says,
step two,
and then be renewed
in the spirit of your mind.
What is that?
It doesn't say be renewed
in the Holy Spirit of your mind.
That's not the word
being used here.
It's be renewed
in the spirit of your mind,
meaning your spirit,
your heart,
your soul,
your affections
have to be renewed
in that moment.
Your mind has to work hard
in that moment
to renew your spirit,
your affections,
your heart.
So what do you do?
First you say,
in the moment of temptation,
in the moment where you desire
to sin,
to walk away from God
in darkness,
you've got to first say,
I've already been changed.
I'm an emerald.
I want to say no to that.
Put it off.
Secondly,
now,
mind,
talk to spirit,
talk to your heart,
talk to yourself,
and say,
self,
you are already changed.
You've got to be who you are.
It's to talk to yourself
and to allow that
to become prayer.
And to say,
Lord,
I'm in your presence right now,
and right now,
I need strength.
I need renewal.
And third step,
final step,
put on the new self.
And what is that?
It's the choice,
the fight,
to say today,
right now,
in this moment,
I'm going to choose
patience over impatience.
I'm going to be slow to anger
instead of quick to anger.
I'm going to choose
the affection I have
for Jesus Christ,
my Savior,
more than my lust.
It's a fight.
You already are
in God's sight,
the emerald.
Justification,
and now seek
sanctification.
Practice it.
Become who you are.
And let me give you
two applications
and we'll finish.
First is this.
Deep change,
fighting idols in your life,
becoming like Christ this year.
Boy,
what is on offer here?
What is on offer
is a life of joy.
More and more joy,
more and more glorification of God.
More and more becoming like Jesus
means more and more joy,
deep joy,
surprising joy in your life.
And I just want to say
that that is not exactly,
that will not come to you
like a gym membership
brings you benefits.
So maybe you joined the gym
last week
to prepare for today.
Whatever else it is
you're seeking change
in practical ways
in your life this year.
If you go to the gym
every day,
most days this month,
and you eat really well,
really healthily,
on January 30th,
you will look in the mirror
and what will happen?
You will see,
I have changed.
Maybe it's a small change,
but you will notice
there will be something
that will have changed,
right?
The normal pathway to fitness.
Becoming like Jesus
is not like that.
It's probably not the case
that you will look up
on January 30th
and see all the ways
that you've changed,
that you've become
more and more the emerald,
the sanctified emerald
that God has pronounced
that you are
through justification.
Instead,
probably what you need
to think about
is coming back here
or wherever you may be
in the world.
On January 1st,
2026,
and saying,
in what ways
did God change me
last year?
From a person
who lacked joy
into a person
full of joy,
from a person
who is very negative
all the time
to a person
of gratitude.
A person who really
struggles with impatience
into a person
of patience.
You'll probably need
to give it a year
of fighting,
fighting,
to become more
and more like Christ,
to see results,
to see,
to visibly see.
Boy,
your spouse,
your friend,
your partner,
they'll be able
to tell you
faster than that.
But it's slow.
There's a lot
of patience here.
Lastly,
no, yes,
lastly.
I thought I had
something else there,
but I don't.
Lastly,
the risk.
There's a risk here
on January 1st,
2025,
of doing what we all
struggle with so much,
and that's never starting.
Never starting.
Not,
boy,
don't hear.
You are saved
by grace through faith.
That is why
Jesus,
through the cross
and resurrection,
God looks at you,
if you're a Christian today,
and says,
you're already an emerald.
Pronounced clean,
forgiven.
And now,
fight.
Work out your salvation
with fear and trembling.
Fight to become
the emerald
in this life
that you are
in God's sight.
That's what we're,
sanctification is what
we're talking about.
There's a risk
of never growing
very much.
As a Christian.
You can be a Christian
and never grow
very much in your life.
Never really experience
the depths of joy
that are on offer.
Jean-Paul Sartre,
not a Christian,
but a very famous
French existentialist
philosopher,
he said it like this,
something very true.
He said,
I have led
a toothless life,
a toothless life.
I have never
bitten into anything.
I was waiting.
I was reserving
my teeth for later on,
and I've looked up
and just noticed
that now my teeth
are gone.
Now there's a real danger
and real risk
of always saying,
tomorrow,
I will fight this
vice and bad habit.
Tomorrow,
I will get serious
about becoming
more like Jesus.
Tomorrow,
next month,
2026 will be the year.
When I leave university,
that will be the time.
when this move
is passed,
when this change
in our circumstances
is passed,
then I'll be able
to pray and read scripture
and be a more patient person.
And boy,
the risk is not
losing God's grace.
No,
forgive me,
that's not the risk.
No,
but the risk
is looking up
year in,
year out,
and saying,
decades have gone by
and I've not yet
experienced the joy
that the scriptures
talk about
in this life.
The change
that's on offer to me
of becoming more like Jesus
in this life,
sanctification is this,
Ephesians 1, 3,
you already have
every spiritual blessing.
Jesus has already
given it in the gospel.
So now,
take hold of it.
The final word.
It would be like
a starving man,
a starving woman,
starving to death
and being gifted,
totally gifted
with a whole storeroom,
a kitchen full of food,
ready.
To eat.
And someone comes
to that starving man,
that starving woman
and says,
do you have food to eat?
And objectively,
they have every blessing.
Everything has already
been given to them.
Every pronouncement
has been made over them.
The kitchen is full.
The storehouse is full.
But they're not walking in
and opening the cabinet.
Subjectively,
they're not taking it.
They're not taking hold of it.
Don't starve yourself this year.
Take up and eat.
Become like Jesus.
Fight.
Because you have already
been given grace.
Because you are already
an emerald in his sight.
Let us pray.
Father,
we ask
that this year
would be a year
of deep change.
The real change we need.
not merely the beautiful things
of learning languages
and getting fitter
and reading more books
and eating better
or whatever it is, Lord,
but the real change
of being conformed
to the image of the Son.
Give us, Lord,
a desire for the fight
to put off,
to mortify,
to kill
the habits,
the sins,
the vices of darkness
that our city teaches us,
that our selfishness
calls for,
and to put on
the fruit of the Spirit.
So we want to be
more like Jesus, Lord,
because we want more joy
in our lives
and because it gives you glory
and because we want
to enjoy you forever,
even in these moments now.
From one degree of glory
to the other,
we ask that you would
grow us up in this year.
And we pray that through
because of the ground
of your grace,
not in order to get it.
And we pray that
in Jesus' name.
Amen.