 I've been assigned chapter 4 of Ephesians, and I've chosen as my text the last half of the chapter. I'd like to read it, and then I'd like to come back and talk about it. Ephesians chapter 4 beginning in verse 17, this I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work all in cleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor for members of one another, be angry and do not sin, do not let the Son go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil, hey let him who stole still no longer, rather let him labor, working with his hands with his good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you. Over the last few months our church has seen a number of our young men join our nation's military. These were kids who wore saggy jeans, and sloppy t-shirts, and their ball caps backwards. I mean their chief goal in life was to put wide tires on their pickup truck. But something happens to these young men. On their first trip home after their enlistment they come to church dressed in their army service uniform, or navy whites, or marine corps dressed blues. Their beret is perched nobly on their head. Their sailors cap is perfectly cocked, and they're sending a message. These young men are letting us know that they're not the same snotty boys they used to be, that they've changed, that they've enrolled in a cause greater than themselves. They're now under new command. There's a new purpose, a new calling governing their life. They've put away childish things, and they're becoming a man. And they show it by putting on that uniform. And I like how they make a point of it. I mean these young men have walked into our church a thousand times before, but that first morning back in that uniform, it's different. I mean their walk is more upright. Their head is held higher. It's a declaration to the folks who've known them before. I am not the same. After the service when I greet these guys, I always ask them, hey, is it true that women like a man in uniform? And these guys will bashfully, you know, they'll kind of nod and I'll say, yeah, it's true. But here's what I want to say to us today. Women loves a man in uniform, for you two have enlisted in a cause, a purpose greater than yourself. As we've been learning, we're not the same. In Christ, we're chosen and forgiven and adopted and accepted and sealed by the Holy Spirit. We're to walk worthy of this new identity. A new calling requires new conduct. The changes that Jesus makes inwardly should be expressed outwardly. Our enlistment in Christ comes with a uniform that's woven of attitudes and behaviors fitting a man of God. You see, this is how a Christian man grows. He puts on what reinforces who he is in Christ, and he puts off what undermines that identity. He puts on and he puts off. He puts on new perspectives. He takes off old habits. He's all about putting on and putting off until he walks more uprightly, until he holds his head up higher. You see, a Christian man is proud to wear the uniform and to tell the world that he's not the same. And this is what Ephesians 4 is all about. The chapter is the Christian's Dressed Blues. It's the life that putting on and putting off produces. Just speaking, a Christian man needs to be a sharp-dressed man. In the words of ZZ Top, with a little of my own ad-libbing, heaven is just crazy about a sharp-dressed man. God wants you and I to be men in uniform. Let's dive in, verse 17, this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. Actually, you can tell a lot about a person by the way they walk, how they put one foot in front of the other. I read not too long ago about a professor at Skidmore College in New York who did some research into the language of walking. She linked certain motor skills with personality traits. A waddle indicates a person who's independent, a person who drags his feet, is frustrated. On tiptoes, that signals an insecurity. A stride exudes confidence. A shuffle shouts laziness. Obviously, it's not an exact science. I mean, you have to take into account corns and blisters and ingrown toenails and saddle sores and jock itch and hemorrhoids. That all has an effect. But generally speaking, your gait is a gateway to your character. And this is especially true spiritually. Of course, when Paul speaks of a person's walk, he's not thinking of their motor skills but their lifestyle. It's not how they move their feet, but it's how they move through life. It's about how they see themselves and how they treat others and how they navigate life. Most importantly, it's about how they relate to God. And the first thing that Paul says is we should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. In the Old Testament from God's vantage point, there were only two categories of people. Jews and Gentiles, which was everyone other than Jews. But with the coming of the Gospel, a third race was born. Like their friends and relatives, the Ephesian believers were Gentiles but of a different breed. They were now Christians spiritually. They were born again. They now had a new nature, a new love, a new hope, a new power, new ties with a new community. They were no longer like the rest of the Gentiles. What if I went out and spent big bucks to purchase a pure-bred dog with an impeccable pedigree? He had papers and a bloodline. He was registered with the Canine Society. Would I let that dog run with the pack, hang out with the high in 57s, the mongrel dogs? Of course not. You don't treat a registered dog like the rest of the dogs. And this is how Paul sees us as Christians, hey, you're pure-bred. You've been given a new nature through the Holy Spirit, new love and loyalties govern your life. Hey, we're also a part of an exclusive bloodline, are we not? We have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. And we're registered now in heaven, in the Lamb's Book of Life. Hey, you got papers and you didn't even know it. We're not like the rest of the Gentiles. And just as you would never allow a pedigreed pooch to run with the pack, God doesn't want you and I to run with this evil world. Don't walk as the rest of the Gentiles. Hey, this is why the excuse, well, everybody else is doing it. That's why that excuse is so lame. But we're not like everybody else. We're of a different stock, bought at the highest price. Imagine your pure-bred pup asking you, hey, why can't I play in the garbage like the junkyard dogs? Other dogs get fleas, why can't I? Who needs fresh water? Let me just sip out of the toilet bowl. And yet this is how Christians are acting when they fail to live a godly life. When they go out and roll in the world's dirt, hey, we don't realize how special we are. You see, believers and unbelievers, they walk differently. And as a Christian, we need to stop walking like everybody else. And in the next few verses, Paul tells us how. First he gives us some walking styles to avoid. In verse 17, he says, don't walk in the futility of your mind. In other words, don't be empty-headed. This is how they heathen walk. You see, a person without Christ is void of any overarching direction for their life. They're on a wild goose chase, but there's no goose. They're always searching, but never finding. Hey, without Jesus, people are like pinballs. They just bounce from paddle to paddle to paddle. Their life has no master plan. Like the bumper sticker, don't follow me, I'm lost too. A life that's empty-headed, that has no transcendent purpose, will also be a cold and empty-hearted life. C.S. Lewis described the Christless world as a land where it is winter all year long, but never Christmas. There's nothing meaningful to break up the bleak. Oh, our world, it isn't short on pleasures and their promises. Drugs and sex and money and fame all come with the promise of fulfillment, and yet all they yield is drabness. In verse 22, Paul refers to them as deceitful pleasures. The pleasures of this world, they promise peace and joy and community, but they inevitably disappoint. Apart from Jesus, nothing satisfies and fills the hollowness. You see, the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened. Imagine living like blindfolded, earn a thick fog, unable to see clearly. You know, a lot in life can blur our vision. Alcoholics, they want more. Sex addicts want different. Both forms of dependency will blur a normal logic, will warp a man's perspective. Even anger obscures our judgment. Recently I read where a man drives 20 miles per hour faster when he's mad. Revenge and jealousy also distort our outlook and cause rash decisions. Oh, it's scary to think how many impulsive choices are made without any forethought at all. Actually, any form of sin will blur our understanding. Why? For sin separates us from God. Notice what Paul says in verse 18, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. Hey, turn your back on God and the lights go out. Morally and spiritually, our heart becomes blind. Alienated from God, you're like a pilot who loses his instruments in flight. He has no bearings now, no communication with the tower. He's disoriented, he's destined to crash. For a person without God, life is a jigsaw puzzle with no box top. You have no idea what the completed puzzle should look like. Life doesn't make sense. Sin keeps us from the Lord and in the dark, but that's only sin's beginning. For we're told in verse 19, the being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to walk all uncleanness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. Sin also creates a spiritual callousness, a hardness. In high school, I played so much basketball the bottoms of my feet for one big callous. My feet were so tough you could prick them with a pin and I couldn't feel it. And what had happened to the soles of my feet can also occur in the human soul. We can harden our hearts over and over until we're past feeling. We're no longer touched by the needs around us. Our conscience becomes muted. We grow deaf and insensitive to the calling and convicting whispers of the Holy Spirit. Here's a poem by Lois Cheney. Once a boy cheated on a test. He got a good grade and passed the course. He told his friends, I had no choice. Later as a man, he took a job that denied another's need. But the money was good and he had a family to think of. And he told a friend, I had no choice. Later the man denied his calling and chose a different role that made him famous. And he became well thought of. And he told a friend, I had no choice. Later the man reviewed his life before God, the Almighty God. He shrugged his shoulders as he told God, I had no choice. And God said to the man as he turned his back and walked away, I have no choice. A life blurred by sin and alienated from God and ignorant and blind to the truth of God grows more and more callous until one day that life is judged by God. Paul says a callous life has been given over to lewdness and uncleanness and greediness. I mean, here's a person who sins with no shame. They sin for shock effect, to attract attention, or to sell tickets, or to make money. This is the person who makes no attempt to hide their sin. It's flaunted. It's outed. They push the limits of decency. Here's a Miley Cyrus attitude. A person out to prove just how crash she can be, just how crash she wants to be, she can be it. This is the gambler who steals money from his own family. This is the addict who hits the street for a fix. This is the hothead who makes a scene or hits his wife. His problem is no longer a secret. He's now out of control. Consequences are no longer a deterrent. And this is the way the rest of the Gentiles walk. It's a slippery slope, turning from God to blurring the lines, to hardening your heart to living in shame. And yet, verse 20, breathes some hope. But you have not so learned Christ. If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus, as Christians, we know better than to walk down this path. Instead, when we sin, we repent. We stay open to God. We keep our heart soft for repentance. We avoid what's shameful. This is how we've learned Christ. You got to love the language here. Understand, this is exclusively Christian lingo. No one would ever say, as you have learned Buddha or learned Mohammed. I mean, I can learn the teachings of Buddha, but how can I learn Buddha? He's been dead for 2,500 years. This is a reminder that Christianity isn't just following a creed or a code or a set conduct. No, we follow Christ. Paul is writing to a people who are living 600 miles in 30 years from Jesus' crucifixion. And yet, they knew the living Lord. They'd been taught by Christ. Christianity is a relationship with Jesus. It's His life in me. Only Christians can say, we've learned Christ. And Jesus has taught us a better way to walk. Verse 22, He says, put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust. I mean, if you're serious about Jesus, you'll shed the street clothes and you'll put on your dress blues. You'll be proud of the uniform. And you'll show it by putting off old lusts and putting on new habits. You'll dress in attitudes of faith and humility and holiness. This is what Paul tells us in verse 23, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Like those young soldiers who returned to our church in their service uniforms, a Christian man sees himself differently. He's taken on a new identity and he's now re-sifting every thought and aligning it with who he is in Christ. You see, when you come to Jesus, you're made brand new. You're a new creation on the inside. Spiritual, you are born again. And with this new birth comes new loves, new desires. On the inside, we're new. But on the outside, our thoughts and our language and our habits in many ways still reflect the old life. Jesus changes us on the inside, but now we need to put on the uniform, the godly garb that says to both us and the world that we're not the same. You know, I realize that some old habits die hard. Patterns can be difficult to break. I mean, the lag time on what happens to us when we become Christians and when it shows up in our conduct and in our character can be painfully slow. For years, I drove a car with a standard transmission and when I changed to an automatic, it took me months to stop reaching for the stick. I mean, some habits linger even after the reason for them has long since passed. And this is true in our outlook and in our behavior. This is why we need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. You know, I'm amazed at how quickly the young men from our church change when they put on that uniform. That 18 year old recruit who returns to church sporting his new uni, he's yet to see combat. He's far from a seasoned soldier. Man, when he puts on that uniform, he puts on all that comes with it, the tradition, the training, the camaraderie, the sacrifices that other men who've worn that uniform have made, the sacrifices that he's prepared to make one day. Hey, is it the man who makes the uniform or is it the uniform that makes the man? Maybe it's a little bit of both. And the same occurs spiritually. Jesus changes us from the inside out, yet when we adopt a new identity and put on the uniform and see ourselves in Christ, hey, we're inspired to live out what the spirit has put in. Realize the instant you're saved, the very moment you're saved, colossal changes occur inside of you. You literally pass from death to life, but often you don't feel those changes until you start putting off old habits and putting on new habits. Jesus died to give us a new identity, but like a raw recruit, it's putting on that uniform that keeps us and helps us feel like the man of God that we now are. When we affirm indeed what's happened in spirit, our lives begin to take a new shape. Hey, you recall when Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave, the man had been dead for four days. His corpse was decomposed and Mary warned by this time he stinketh. I love that verse. Yet when Jesus called Lazarus front and center, the corpse obeyed. Lazarus bounced out into the mouth of the grave, standing there still encased in his shroud. He had new life, but he was still wearing those grave clothes. And man, this is our portrait. When Jesus saves us, he raises us to new life, but we're still wearing that old identity and those old attitudes that went with it. We need to put off the old and we need to put on the new. We need to see ourselves in Christ. We need to swap grave clothes for grace clothes. I love the story of Augustine. Before he became a Christian, he was a wild child. He lived with a woman and bore a son out of wedlock. One day after his conversion, his former mistress saw him on the street and ran after him shouting, Augustine, it is I, it is I. That's when the new believer Augustine, he took off in the opposite direction, shouting, yes, but it is not I, it is not I. He had put off the old man and he had put on a new man. He was renewed in the spirit of his mind, realized the power of this putting off and this putting on. Each time I think or act, it carves a rut into my personality so that it becomes easier to think or act in that way again. Over time, the rut becomes larger and larger until it takes over. Rather than shape my thoughts, it's now a channel for those thoughts. One day I wake up and I find that the rut is now the rudder. It's been said we first make our habits, then our habits make us. The job of putting off and putting on is ditching those old habits, developing new habits when this is done repeatedly, it creates a new identity in you and me. And in these last eight verses of chapter four, Paul gives the Ephesians habits in which to dress. Verse 25. Therefore, putting away lying that each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, but we are members of one another. Notice it's putting away lying, but then it's putting on honesty. It's not just taking off a wrong attitude, but it's adopting a right attitude. Honesty is part of a Christian man's uniform. Once a farmer wanted to stop folks from stealing watermelons from his field, so he posted a sign out near the gate that read, one of these melons is poisonous. The plan, though, backfired. A few days later, his sign was replaced by one that read two of these melons are poisonous. Because the farmer didn't know which was the second melon, he lost his whole crop. Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive. Honesty is always the best policy. And notice the reason Paul gives for honest relationships. He says, for we are members of one another. Hey, if we come clean before God and he's willing to accept us just as we are, then we should be able to open up to each other and extend that same acceptance. Since the Garden of Eden, mankind has tried to hide his sin. Adam and Eve launched a fig leaf cover up. But God wants us to come out into the open, out from the bushes, out from our hiding, and be honest about what we've done. And when we come clean, God can cleanse us. And here's another positive habit to put on, verse 26. Be angry and do not sin. Notice we're commanded here to be angry. For some of us, that comes as quite a surprise that there is an appropriate kind of anger that has its place. I mean, think of Jesus. He was perfect and he still got angry. The anger of Jesus boiled over in the synagogue at Capernaum. He wanted to heal a man with a crippled hand, but legalistic Jews forbid healing on the Sabbath day. And Jesus got angry that they put law above love, that they put tradition above people. Mark 3, verse five tells us, so when Jesus had looked around at them in anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out and his hand was restored, his whole is the other. Jesus also got angry in the temple. Twice he ran out the money changers. Once Jesus did it with his bare knuckles. The other time he used a homemade whip. And for years I had this all wrong. I thought Jesus just sort of got caught up in a moment, reached for whatever was available. It could have been a broom or a stick, just happened to be a whip. But go back and read John chapter two carefully. The Bible says he made a whip of cords. Imagine Jesus, he's sitting over in the corner of the temple, he's weaving this whip as he eyeballs those crooked priests. His blood is boiling, his hands are clenching. Hot molten rage is bubbling up within him. Jesus knows this is about to go ballistic. This is gonna turn ugly. Hey, this isn't the spur of a moment reaction. Realize, our Lord Jesus cleans the temple in a premeditated act of aggression. This idea that God wants believers to be wallflowers and namby pambies couldn't be further from the truth. There's nothing spiritual about being sissy. God wants Christian men tempered with appropriate passion. Hey, Jesus takes away my sin, not my backbone. When it comes to unrighteousness and hypocrisy and injustice, especially my own, we need to get mad. We should get angry and then use that passion for good. It's interesting, we get angry when we're mistreated, but Jesus loved his enemies. They nailed him to the cross, but rather than angry, he prayed for their forgiveness. No, Jesus always got angry for the right reasons at the right time with the right people. It was Aristotle who said anyone can become angry, but to be angry with the right person to the right degree at the right time for the right reason and in the right way, this is not easy. Be angry and do not sin. And then verse 26 tells us, do not let the sun go down on your wrath. Be angry at sin and passionate for truth, but at the end of the day, settle your differences. And if you can't settle it immediately, turn that righteous anger over to God. Don't you dare go to bed cuddled up with anger. You know, most forest fires start with a simple spark, just a smoldering ash. It could have easily been put out, but it was given time to flame up and it burned out of control. And the same is true with anger. Don't let it smolder. Hey, it'll flare up and it'll do great damage. This is why Jesus said in Matthew five, agree with your adversary quickly. In marriage or in friendship or at church, let unresolved anger linger and somebody will eventually get burned. And then we're told, nor give place to the devil. Literally reads, don't give the devil an opportunity. Years ago, my wife, Kathy, got a phone call promising us a free prize if we allowed a salesman to drop by the house and give us a sales pitch for his vacuum cleaner and the seller. The only catch was that both spouses had to be home. Well, I hate sales pitches. I'd rather get the root canal. Yet somehow Kathy taught me into it. But I was determined. I told her no matter how good a salesman he was, there's no way I got no money for a vacuum cleaner. No way, Jose. And I'll never forget this guy. This was the super salesman. And his vacuum man, according to him, I could cook my meals, change my oil, rock my kids to sleep at night. And I'll never forget it at the end of his spiel. I was getting out my checkbook. Kathy had to stop me from buying it. And Satan too is a super salesman. If he can get just one foot in the door, he's got you. He can sell you. Realized Satan has no code of ethics. He'll lie. He'll exaggerate. He'll tell you what you want to hear. If he can just get you interested enough to listen to him, he's got you. Just start toying with temptation. Just start nibbling at his bait. Sadly, he's got you hooked. This is why when Satan knocks on your door, you need to let Jesus answer. Don't give the devil an opportunity. You know, I've heard men say, man, I have this terrible problem with lust. Whenever I pick up a Playboy magazine, oh really? Man, I struggle with alcohol. Every time I walk into a bar, my oh my, how naive can we be? As those football guys on ESPN like to say, come on, man. If you don't want to sin, stop flirting with temptation. If you're gonna put on the new man and put off the old man, you can't afford to give place to the devil. So you see, here's the uniform. It's shaping up for us. Honesty, appropriate anger, an avoidance of temptation. But there's more, verse 28 tells us, to put off, let him who stole still no longer, then to put on, but rather let him labor, working with his hands, with his good. He may have something to give him who has need. Again, it's not just stop stealing, it's get a job, learn to work hard, make enough money to bless others, even give a tithe through the work of God. How about that? A Christian goes from burglar to blesser, from the thrill of the heist to the thrill of the help. Walk like Jesus walked and you'll take joy in giving, not just giving. And let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. What is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers. You know, whenever I travel to other parts of the country, it doesn't take long for folks to figure out that I'm from the South. And y'all know why, open my mouth and out comes a Southern accent. And it should be just as easy for folks to identify you and me as Christians. Where as soon as we open our mouths, they should know we're full of grace, that our words are coated with grace, that we speak encouraging words. Rather than corrupt, let your conversations build up. And in verse 30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Partnership with the Holy Spirit is a big part of the Christian's uniform. To build a new identity in Christ, we need the help of the Holy Spirit. And the last thing we would ever wanna do is grieve and we're quenching. You know, quenching the Spirit is to neglect what God desires. It's a failure to cooperate. Whereas grieving the Spirit is to do what God forbids. It's our disobedience and both sins are serious and need to be avoided. Notice though this word grieve, it's a love word. I don't have to love you for you to make me mad or angry or disappointed or impatient. But the only a person I love can grieve me. Grief is a womb to the heart. And it's because the Holy Spirit loves us so much and has such high hopes for us. That we can cause him great grief by our unwillingness to follow his lead. And then verse 31, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Nothing grieves God's Spirit more than when his people refuse to get along. When they get bitter toward each other and speak slanderous words. Notice this list begins with the word bitterness, a long standing resentment, a deep seated hatred is what causes our problems. Most of our bad attitudes begin with unresolved bitterness. Reminds me of the artist Leonardo da Vinci working on his famous painting, The Last Supper. Da Vinci had a falling out with a fellow painter in town and he retaliated by painting the man's face in the face of Judas. Everyone at the time knew this man. And Leonardo's artistry would immortalize him as a diabolical traitor. But when Leonardo tried to then paint the face of Jesus he hit a creative wall, artist block. His vision left him. It wasn't until he had gone back and erased the face of his enemy that his inspiration returned so that he could paint the face of Jesus. And if we wanna see Jesus face to face the first thing we need to do is to put off bitterness, wrath, clamor, evil speaking and be kind to one another, Paul tells us. Kindness is treating each other with grace with undeserved favor. And it's being gracious to others that reinforces the grace that I've received. This helps us to put on Christ just as it does to be tenderhearted. Jesus was God. And yet he wanted to know and to share our plight. Thus God became a man. He got down on our level. And he did so as an example. Oh, it's easy to judge your brother until we've walked a mile in his shoes. When we get a different picture when we become sensitive to his situation. Well, are you wearing the uniform this morning? Honesty, righteous anger, avoiding temptation, hard work, generosity, healthy speech, partnership with the Holy Spirit, kindness, tenderheartedness. And then finally, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Forgiveness is also a huge part of the uniform. One year the men of our church, we went white water rafting down the wild in Willy Shatuga River. And during a lull on the river, some of the guys in our boat wanted to start a water fight with one of the other boats. But our God, he was reluctant. He didn't want to stir up any friction, cause any sore feelings. That's when my pal Tracy, he shouted out, I don't worry, those guys are Christians. They got to forgive us. And I'm not sure about Tracy's application, but his theology was right on. How can a Christian not forgive a brother when Jesus has so abundantly forgiven him? If Paul had left off these last seven words and Ephesians four, then we could find a loophole. We could find a rationale to hold on to a grudge, to remain bitter and not forgive. We would read it, forgiving one another, but, or if, or unless he, or until, or when, or once, or after. But the last phrase of this verse removes all our excuses. Forgiving, even as God in Christ forgave you. As a new you in Christ, you should forgive others just as fully and just as freely as Jesus has forgiven you. Well, I want to end with a quote. John Knox said this about Jesus. "'Other gods have been as devoutly worshiped, but no other God has been so devoutly loved. Worshipers of Jesus love him so much, they want to be like him, and so they put on and they put on and they dress like Jesus. A true Christian man is proud to wear the uniform. Let's not walk like the rest of the Gentiles. Let's put on Christ and let this world know that we belong to Jesus."