Ephesians 4:24

Our pastor, Kurt Gebhards, just finished up a 3 part sermon on Ephesians 4:22-24:

22that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Each Sunday’s sermon was one verse and each Sunday equally good. But, this past one really spoke to me.

The 3 verses tell us that in our Christian journey, we must repent, renew our minds and live in the riches of Christ’s refreshment.

Our walk is more than a struggle. We already take on His victory. Christ has given every believer a “new self.” We just need to put it on! An entirely new way of living. A new humanity. A new person! We live with a brand new perspective. 2 Peter 1:4 says we have become partakers of God’s divine nature.
We should ask ourselves if our lives are entirely different from the World? Because they should be!

All of God’s attributes are for our benefits. For example His wisdom is to guide us. His power enables us. Putting on Christ has both a morale component and a moral one. When you put on Christ, something is going to happen! You are going to start looking like Christ. Everyday through humble submission when you put Him on you have no idea what He will do for His glory through you!

We must draw near to the Lord, trusting Him and not holding on to any sin. In salvation we take on all of Christ’s righteousness, but there is a difference between our position in Christ and our practice. In practice we realize our sin, so we turn to Him to obey, follow and repent. We want to be perfect like our position. But sin, although it has been dethroned, isn’t gone. Kurt said that’s why there are so many commandments in the Bible – to keep reminding us, to keep telling us to “put on Christ”.

Isaiah 55: 1-2 says to “come and buy, you who are spiritually bankrupt, come and buy with no money.” God’s store has massive amounts of blessing and mercies and we can come and get all the ones with our name on them. For free! The price is Faith and Grace! We can go hourly and claim every need for every hurt. His mercies are new every morning. Everything we need is there.

We don’t need to do anything for God but come to Him and have faith in Him. And then thank Him. Glorify Him. Always.