Topic: Live as a Citizen of Heaven
Ephesians 4:17, “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind.”
Paul is an apostle, a pastor, a teacher. If anyone is a leader in the church, it's Paul. And because Paul is a leader, his job is to fix the church. And the Ephesians were broken, whether they realized it or not. They weren’t living in peace with each other; they weren't living as a holy family set apart for God. And if they were broken, they wouldn’t be able to do the different ministries Jesus gave them to do. God wanted them to live in peace with Him, and with each other, in holiness. But there was an incredible gap between God's vision for them, and who the Ephesians actually were. The Ephesians were living terrible lives. They still lived like they used to—before they gave their allegiance to Jesus. So Paul told them, "You have to stop walking as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds." In Ephesians 2, Paul said that all of you, before you were saved, were dead in your wrongdoing and sins in which you walked. And now, look at you. You're doing the same sins.
Now, when Paul says, don't walk as the Gentiles walk, this might sound weird. We should stop, and say to ourselves, "Wait. The Ephesians are Gentiles. They're not Jews." Paul is saying, you were Gentiles. Now, you are God's people (citizens of heaven). That is your identity. The easiest way to hear this today, might be to say that you were Americans. That was your identity. You used to live like Americans. But now, you are to live as a citizen of heaven (Ephesians 2:19).
We all understand why the Gentiles lived like they do. They don't know the truth; their hearts are hardened, and they go through life saying to themselves, "Why not?" What they're doing is pointless, and meaningless. But they have nothing better.
You, though? When you were taught the good news about Jesus and about God's plan to make peace with all people, what exactly did people say to you? What is it that God requires of people who want to come to Him? Was it not that when you come to Jesus, that you die to yourself, and to your old way of life? Didn't you take off your old self, the one being ruined by desires, the one that marked off your former way of life?
When we stand in Christ, we are a clean, forgiven people, who are created in righteousness, and holiness. We wear new clothing. We live a different type of life. We are empowered by the Spirit to live faithfully, to walk worthy of our calling. And every day, what God wants is for us to put on that same new clothing we received, when we died with Jesus, and rose up to our new life in Christ.
So don't live like the Gentiles. Live as people who are thankful to God for the ways He has blessed you in Jesus. Live as people who have taken off your old self, the one being ruined by sin, and who have put on the new self. You are clean. You are holy.
See you Sunday,
Dr. Scott Kallem