Seeking Change

And let's read together.

We're going to read a passage from the New Testament, from Ephesians chapter 4, verses 17 to 24.

Ephesians 4:17–24

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,

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.

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,

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.

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.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.