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Sermon Transcript

I hope you have your Bibles open to Ephesians chapter 4. We’ve been walking through this particular book verse-by-verse. Our series is called Walk Worthy, and we’re talking about some Deeper Conviction. This morning we’re going to talk about some deeper conviction that we need to have about the subject of change.

Let me ask you a question as we get started. Are you ready for this question? I don’t think you’re ready for this. You’re not even ready for this, Brittany. This is a heavy question. You’re not going to like this question, but I’m going to ask it anyway: When was the last time that you were so convicted about something that needed to change in your life that it brought you to tears? Any time this week? In the past month? In the past decade? Are we getting warmer at this point?

Let me ask this question a different way. How many of you know somebody, right now, who needs to change? Was it hard to come up with a couple of names? Right! How many of you are sitting next to…we won’t ask that question! Listen, is there somebody whom you’ve had such a heavy burden for, that you’ve actually shed tears over something that needs to change in their life? In the last week, in the last month?

You know, it’s quite likely that, for most of us, we have shed tears over something that needed to change in somebody else’s life—a child, a parent, a friend, a spouse. . .and yet, it has been a long time since we have felt the conviction of God so strongly that we were brought to tears over something in our life that needed to change.

If God’s Spirit does what you’ve already asked Him to do, in our singing. . .and if I do my job right, and you do your job right. . .I think there may be a few tears at the end of this service. At the end of the service I’m going to give you a list of seventy-eight things that need to change, seriously! You’ve probably already got that. Don’t look at that right now—that’s for later.  We’re going to kind of set it up here in the message.

What we’re going to look at are some things that need to change, and I want you to see the word picture that is supplied for us in the Scripture. Don’t you love it when there are word pictures in the Bible? Because some parts of the Bible are kind of technical, and it’s hard to figure out. . .but, especially the apostle Paul, he’s so good at giving these word pictures, so we can understand what in the world he’s talking about.

We looked last week at this word picture of walking—and how it implies there’s a destination, and it never stops, and you keep moving, and it’s step-by-step. So many wonderful things about a word picture! Well, there’s another word picture supplied for us here in Ephesians chapter 4, and it’s mentioned twice. I want to show it to you up front, then we’re going to walk through the passage.

Look at Ephesians 4:22 [ESV]. Paul says this, “Put off your old self. . .” Then look down at verse 24, “…and put on the new self…” Put off and put on. What do you think about when you think of putting something on or putting something off? I think about a wardrobe. How many of you understand that the apostle Paul, at the time that he was writing this, probably did not walk into a walk-in closet and kind of pick out his outfits for the next few weeks? There was probably not a whole lot of variety or selection back in the day.

Back in the day, when somebody put off some clothing, it was because it was worn out, smelly, dirty and it didn’t work anymore. And then you had to really work hard to try to find something new to put on. It wasn’t deciding between fourteen different selections, right? Something was worn out; something wasn’t working; something else had to be put on. It was very different than the experience that I have on a typical Sunday morning.

Can I give you a little insight into the Griffith household about seven o’clock on a Sunday morning? This is what happens: I walk into my closet, and I use all of my fashion sense to prepare something to put on. I do my best. And I walk out of that closet and face four females who are there to judge me! And they look at me—and one in particular usually puts her hand on her hip, sticks it out like this and says, “Where do you think you’re going dressed like that? You need to change!” And so she sends me back in, and she spiffs me up a little better.

And so, here’s the analogy that Paul is using. He is actually using this analogy for the regular, normal, daily Christian life. Do you know what he’s trying to say? “Where in the world do you think you’re going, dressed like that, for cryin’ out loud?! That is not gonna work! That is worn out, that is old! You need to put on something new!” And so, there is a continual, daily process of change that takes place in a believer’s life.

Now, I’ve talked to some Christians, and it baffles my mind to hear them kind of describe what they think Christianity is like. There are some people (maybe it’s you!) who think that all of the change that took place—or that needed to take place—somehow miraculously happened in the moment that you got saved, in the moment that you became a Christian. Now, certainly, that is a radical change! That changes our legal standing before God; it changes our eternal destiny, but that is not the finish line of change—that is the starting place of change. And we change gradually over and over and over, as we put off the old self and put on the new self.

Some Christians think, somehow, that God is kind of blind to all the dysfunction in your life, and all the things that need to change. Now, listen, God sees you through the blood of Christ, but He also sees all the unfinished business that is still needed to change! So, we’re going to talk about change here, as we walk through this, and I want you to see it beginning back up in verse 17.

Here’s what we need to understand:

1. Change begins when I get a new perspective. (v. 17-19)

When I walk out of my closet wearing whatever clothes I picked out, I didn’t know it was ugly until my daughters looked at me and said, “Dad, that’s not going to work for you!” They gave me a new perspective. One of the shows that our children used to watch (I don’t think it’s on anymore) was the show What Not to Wear. That’s kind of the title of this message: What Not to Wear, for a Christian.

Paul begins it in Ephesians 4:17. He says, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord.” I find it interesting that he’s kind of redundant here; do you see the two words? He’s got “something to say,” and he’s got “something to testify.” Why is he redundant?

Well, the word “testify” is very important. It gives us a clue into the urgency of what we’re talking about. The word “testify” is translated from the Greek word, from which we get our English word “martyr.” A martyr is someone who—at the risk of his life—is willing to say some things, unapologetically, unafraid, because of the urgency of the moment. And so, the apostle Paul is saying, “I want you to know. Hear me loud and clear! This is not an optional matter for you! This is at the very core of what it means to be a Christian! A Christian is always in the process of change!”

Now, listen; I’m speaking to Christians here. But in any crowd this size, I’m sure there are a few non-Christians. There are only two types of people in the room: Christians and non-Christians. Or, if you’re an optimist—“pre-Christians,” because we can take care of that before the end of this service, okay? All you have to do is put your faith in Jesus Christ, understanding that what He did on that cross was for a dirty, rotten sinner like you—and you need to change. That doesn’t mean that you now become all cleaned up—it just means that you get started in the process of cleaning up.

So, there are only two types of people—Christians and non-Christians—but, for a Christian, the process of change is an urgent matter. And so Paul says, “You may kill me for saying this. I’m going to say it anyway, even if it makes me a martyr. I’ve got some things to say and testify in the Lord, and this is it!”  “You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.”

This is fascinating! It might sneak up on you, if you’re not paying attention. Back up in chapter 3:1, he calls the people he’s writing to “Gentiles.” He says, “you Gentiles.” So, he’s writing to a local church in an historical place in Ephesus where there had been a church established, and predominantly the members of this church were Gentiles. Very much like Harvest Bible Chapel—predominantly (I’m sure most of us, ninety-nine percent of us, are) Gentiles.

So, what is a Gentile? Well, ethnically speaking, a Gentile is somebody who is not a Jew. They didn’t receive the covenant promises of God in the Old Testament, they didn’t have all the revelation of the Old Testament. They weren’t part of the Hebrew people who were led out of Egyptian captivity and crossed the Red Sea—and all that history that you read about in the Old Testament. And so, every other person in the world who is not a Jew, was a Gentile. That is who Paul was writing to.

And then, he gets to chapter 4 and says, “You must no longer walk as a Gentile!” And, if you were sitting in that church, you might have scratched your head and said, “But wait a minute! I am Gentile! And I’m not supposed to walk as a Gentile?”

You see, apparently, when you receive Christ, the change is so radical that it completely changes your identity. And even though, ethnically, they were Gentiles, spiritually speaking they had a brand-new identity, and that brand-new identity as a follower of the Lord gave them a new perspective on what they were like before they had received Christ.

And so, the question is, “Well, if I’m not supposed to walk as a Gentile…” what’s your question? “How does a Gentile walk?” Good question. The answer’s supplied at the end of verse 17. What does it say? Gentiles walk in the—what is it?—“futility of their minds.” The word “futility” is another word for “vanity,” or “emptiness.” It means to be meaningless, to have no purpose or direction.

Now, if you had come up to me before I became a Christian and asked me to describe my life, I probably wouldn’t tell you, “Yeah, my life is just kind of futile; it’s just ba-a-ad.” But, that is the perspective you must come to before you are willing to change. Nobody’s going to change–I can’t convince you to change–until you understand that the way that you’re walking is empty, meaningless, full of vanity—and futile. And it’s not until the Holy Spirit convicts you that the life you’re living is futile, that you would sense the need for change.

Paul goes on in verse 18 and begins to give us an even better description of what it was like to live outside of Christ. So, what does it look like for a person who’s living outside of Christ? He gives us a seven-layer description. Here’s what he says, “They are…” –speaking of these Gentiles that we’re talking about—just the non-Christian–“darkened in their understanding, [they’re] alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” [Ephesians 4:18-19] Congratulations! Aren’t you glad you came to church? That is such an encouraging list, right?

Now, listen! When you are living as a non-Christian, you do not even know that that is the description of your life—until God begins to give you a new perspective. You see, for me, I thought I was doing just fine. I mean, I went to school—and I took biology, philosophy, psychology—I had some technology—and so I thought I was pretty enlightened. I thought, “Man, I’m doing pretty well!”  I thought I was enlightened. But then, when God gives you a new perspective, you realize you were:

• darkened in your understanding

It’s kind of like the perma-cloud that kind of hovers over Michiana in February. It’s just kind of dark and gloomy, and you don’t even know that the sun is still out there, sometimes. That’s the understanding. What Paul is saying is, “If you’re going to change—and if you have been changed, if you’ve become a Christian—you do not want to walk the way you once walked. And the way you once walked was ‘darkened in your understanding.’”

You see, I thought that God was kind of unconcerned or uninvolved in the world, but then I realized I was alienated from the life of God. And this is the testimony of everybody who is now walking with Christ. Your testimony is probably something like this: “I wasn’t necessarily thinking I was a bad person; I was kind of religious. If you’d asked me if I believed in God, I probably would have said ‘yes,’ but He just seemed really distant. And it’s like, ‘Can you really know what He’s like; can you really have a relationship with Him? Does He actually speak to you, and do you really have this relationship that’s close? I look around the world and there’s so much tragedy. And I look at the hurt and heartache in my life, and the lack of money—and sickness—and it’s like, ‘God, where are You?! You seem kind of unconcerned about these things that are really burdens on my heart! If you really loved me, it seems like You’d step in the middle of this and fix it! Either You’re unconcerned. . .or, maybe You’re concerned, but You’re kind of uninvolved. . .and so, if You’re good, then  why don’t You change it? Oh, maybe You’re good but You don’t have the power to change it.’ And so, I don’t even know.”

Listen! When God flips the switch, you realize—it’s not that God was unconcerned and uninvolved—it’s that you were:

• alienated from the life of God

You’re spiritually dead! And so, of course, you have all these questions about a God that seems so distant. God is saying, “Now that you are a Christian, you are not to walk as one who is alienated from God—questioning God, calling God into judgment—but you are to live as one who know has the life of God inside of you, and you understand His will and His ways.”

Before you become a Christian, you think that truth is unknowable, but then you realize, it’s not that truth is unknowable, it’s just that you were:

• ignorant

(I’m from Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, it only has two syllables: “ig-nernt.”) Now, to be ignorant does not mean that you are stupid. Turn to your neighbor right now and say, “You are not stupid! You are just ignorant!” Just say that. Now, that’s not a slam. We use that in a derogatory sense—that is not a derogatory term.

As a matter of fact, it should make you make you sympathetic toward an ignorant person. Ignorant just simply means “uninformed.” A person living outside of Christ is uninformed, or unaware, that there is objective truth. What we think is, is that truth is just something you make up. “Truth is probably found deep down in the inner recesses of your soul, and if you will just stop and meditate and get in touch with your inner being you can find the truth, deep down on the inside. But of course, that truth is truth for you, but it may not be true for somebody else—and so, don’t use your truth to cast judgment on somebody else,” and this is what the world is living in! And it’s all because they are alienated from the life of God, and they are ignorant of the truth.

But when God flips the switch, He gives you a new perspective, and you realize truth is not something you make up. Truth is something you hear, because God has spoken what is true. And truth is something that is true for you and every person who has ever lived, in every place, at any time. So, truth can be known. And when God gives you a new perspective, you have this reality you didn’t have before. God is saying, “Now that you’re a Christian…” Are you a Christian? “…You’ve got to live as one who knows the truth, who is aware! Don’t be ignorant of things that God has spoken!”

Paul goes on, and he talks about how we were:

•   Hard of heart

You see, at one time I thought I was just kind of tough. You have to be tough to survive in a world like this, right? You’ve got to be strong. You’ve got to be an independent thinker, right? You can’t let people brainwash you and push you around. You’ve got to stand up for your rights! You might even need to march and protest every now and then, just so people don’t push things on you! If you’re tough. And we see that as a virtue.

Yet, when God flips the switch, you realize, no, it’s not that you’re tough. It’s that you’ve got a hard heart, and you’re unteachable, and you don’t like to be told things that need to change. And you build up walls and push people away. And you’re certainly not going to put yourself under somebody else’s authority, especially God’s. That’s what life is like before we come to Christ.

But now that we’ve come to Christ, you’re to have a soft heart. That doesn’t mean that you’re somehow soft, it just means that you’re tender—you’re pliable, you’re moldable—and you’re always wanting to change for the better. So, are you tough, or is it that you have a hard heart?

The next thing that Paul says is that these people are:

•   Calloused

You see, you may think, “Nah, I’ve just got thick skin—that’s me. I mean, if you knew the life that I’ve lived, and abuses that I’ve been involved in and the way that people have mistreated me–and I’ve been knocked around by this world. I’m a survivor! I’ve got thick skin!” Really? When God flips the switch, you realize, no, you’ve just become calloused.

Do you know what a callous is? Layers of skin that build up over time, that deaden the sensitivity of the nerve endings. Years ago, when I was in college, I worked a job at a funeral home (which has given me built-in sermon illustrations for the rest of my life).

One particular day, my assignment was to climb a ladder and change a lightbulb, kind of on the second story. It was an outdoor floodlight. Interestingly, it had become flooded; water had gotten in there. So, when I twisted it, the whole thing broke off in my hand—and it cut my pinky, really deep. It just took a big ole chunk of meat out of there and it was bleeding like crazy (aren’t you glad you came to church?) and it was the worst pain I had ever felt in my life!

As that thing began to heal, over the next few weeks, there were layers and layers of extra skin. Apparently, my body thought I was going to do this often!—and so it built up an extra layer of protection. And what once was the most sensitive part of my body–you couldn’t touch it without me experiencing excruciating pain through my body–now, thirty years later, there are still extra layers of skin. There are scars and callouses there. Why? To prevent me from feeling pain.

Do you know why some people can come to church and never sense the convicting power of the Holy Spirit? It’s not that God isn’t speaking. It’s that you’ve got callouses built up over the sensitive places in your heart. And you’re not to be that way. Especially now as a Christian. You’re not to be calloused—you’re to be tenderhearted, you’re to be sensitive. And you’re to be leaning in and listening, and asking God to speak—because when He speaks, it changes us, and it changes what we seek, and it changes what we see. Not if you’re calloused!

And then Paul says this; he says that they were:

•   Given over to sensuality

You see, once I thought I was exercising my freedom. . .but then, I realized, “No, I wasn’t free; I was enslaved to sensuality.” Do you see the term there, sensuality? Most of the time we think of that in a sexual sense (and certainly it includes all that), but it’s even more than that.

Sensuality just means that you are constantly going on a search for something that will please one of your five senses: something you see, smell, touch, taste or hear. And, in any one of those areas, you can be enslaved. When everything that you’re doing is futile, you’re constantly looking for the next thing to bring a pleasure sense. There’s a pleasure sensor in your brain, and when one of those senses activates something pleasurable, it gives you a sense of pleasure. But it’s always short-lived, futile, menial–because you always have to find the next thing to bring the sensation.

It’s something we call “the law of diminishing returns.” Do you know what that is? What satisfied me today will not satisfy me tomorrow; it will take more of that sensual pleasure. And that’s why we become addicted to things as simple as Krispy Kreme doughnuts, or shopping, or social media, or a relationship, or pornography. It’s all sensuality. And we think we’re free, but God shows us a new perspective. We’re not to be like that. And you are not now to live the way you once lived! That’s your old self. That’s to be put off; you’re to put on the new self.

And then there’s one other thing here. Paul says this at the end of verse 19:

•   Greedy for impurity

“Greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” It’s almost as if he’s kind of using that as a junk drawer. “Everything else you could possibly imagine! I don’t have a category for it—it just all goes into this category of ‘every kind of impurity.’” And it uses the word “greedy.” We usually think of the word as greedy for money. It includes that, but here it’s just talking about this insatiable desire for more! “I just want more!” And the reason you want more is because nothing ever satisfies.

So when I was outside of Christ, I thought I could find satisfaction somewhere, in something or someone. But one day, God graciously turns the light on and I realize, everything I tried left me empty. Now listen, this is a message for Christians. But it could be that, right now, you’re finally figuring out why you’re so miserable. Because you have tried to satisfy God-given desires in God-forbidden ways. And it’s left you dissatisfied, empty. And maybe today, for the first time, God is giving you a new perspective: “I need to change. This is not working out too great!” If you are a Christian, you must no longer walk the way you once walked—in the futility of your mind. Remember how futile that life was! So, change begins when you get a new perspective.

Secondly:

2. Change is possible when I receive a new nature. (v. 22-24)

Look down, again, at Ephesians 4, verse 22; let’s finish these verses. The Scripture says we are to, “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt [polluted, damaged] through deceitful desires…”

            Do you know that not every desire you have is a true desire? Some desires you have are there to lie to you. And that desire just says, “Man, if I could have a boyfriend, if I could have a husband…if I could have a wife that loved me…if I could just get a better job…if I could just live in the place I wanted to live…if I could get better clothes…I would be happy!” Those are deceitful desires, because our desires are to be met only in Christ. And so, Paul says, “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life…” And, if you could just see how ugly your clothes are, you wouldn’t wear those.

How many of you have had this experience…? Have you noticed on Facebook, now, that there is like this memory function: there are these old photos of the old you? They show up every so often. How many of you were alive in 1997–twenty years ago? Have you recently seen a photo of yourself from 1997? You looked better, but you were ashamed of what you were wearing! Has anybody had that phenomena? You know, the parachute pants? That was a good look in ’97, but not for today, and your children are looking to you and saying, “What were you thinking?! Why would you wear something like that…?” and they mock you.

Let me give you a little parenting strategy. When that happens, just remind them—many more photos of your children are being taken and posted than were ever taken or posted of you. And in the year 2037, you’re going to show back up and mock them, okay? Because, what they think is cool now, in 2037, they will think is ridiculous. And so, the question is, “Why would you ever wear that?” That belongs to your old pattern, your old self. That was part of a different wardrobe. So now, for a Christian, we dress differently, because we have a new nature.

Paul speaks of the new nature, here in Ephesians 4:23: “…and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds…” Now, I want you to see this–verse 22: “Put off,” verse 24 “put on.” Who is the active agent in verse 22? Who’s got to do something? You do and I do. I’m either going to obey or disobey this.

Look at verse 24: “…and put on the new self.” Who’s the active agent? Me. I’ve got to do something. I’m either going to obey or disobey. But look at verse 23: “to be renewed in the spirit of your minds…” Who’s the active agent? It’s not me. I’m not doing something; something is being done to me: I am being renewed (that’s the tense of the language there). Verse 23 doesn’t shout an imperative to us; it doesn’t say, “Be new!” I have no idea how to be something other than what I am, right? What does Paul say? “Be renewed.” Someone is acting upon me to make me new. And it affects the spirit of my mind. It’s the spirit of my mind.

Now, think about this. Why doesn’t it just use the word “mind?” Why doesn’t it just say, “be renewed in your mind?” Paul adds this thing called “the spirit of my mind.” Did you know that your mind has a spirit? I don’t think that’s talking about some supernatural, weird thing, and it’s not talking about the Holy Spirit. So, what’s it talking about?

Have you ever heard the term, “I’ve had my imagination captured?” Have you ever had your imagination captured by something? What it means is that you’re so fixated on something; you’re curious about it; you study it, you want to find out more about it, right? At the deepest part of who you are, there is an imagination that is captured with the things of Christ.

And when you understand what Christ has done for you on that cross, do you know what happens? You experience a:

•   New birth

You get a new spiritual life. And so, the spiritual life activates the spirit of your mind. You get a new identity; you’re no longer who you once were.

You get a:

•   New start

You get a new self.

You get:

•   New desires

Not deceitful desires, but desires for things that are good! That means you now love things you once hated, and now hate things you once loved. It’s incredible! New! New desires!

And you get:

•   New power

This new power gives you the ability to obey God in ways you never could on your own.

And then, you get:

• A new mind

And I want you to see something about this mind. In Ephesians 4:24, “And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

            Notice “the likeness of God.” How many of you, the last time you produced a resume, you put this on your resume…? “I’m like God. Do you want to know something about me? I am just like God!” Do you know the reason you didn’t put that on there? It’s because you know there are some things that need to change, if you are going to be anything like God at all! But that’s what God does for you every day.

When you put off and put on, you are putting on things that look like God—because you were created after the likeness of God. This new you is created after the likeness of God. How many of you, in wisdom, left off the words “righteous” and “holy” on your resume? You just left that off. Because you know there are some things that need to change if you are going to put that on there. Right. So, here’s what God wants: He wants the new you to look like God in righteousness and holiness.

Now listen—that’s a pretty high bar. How many of you are in? Righteousness and holiness? And there are a lot of people who just give up at that point: “I can’t do that! There’s no way I could ever do that!” Now, listen. Here is the key to change: It is to become so fixated on what Christ has done—to let your imagination to be so captured with what Christ has done that you begin to change. So what do you have to think about? Think about this: the requirement for us is to be created in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. That’s what we’re to put on. We’re to put on righteousness and holiness. We’re to put on the likeness of Christ.

            This is the story of the gospel. One day, Jesus looked at the old you—and was not impressed. He recognized you needed to change, but recognized you had no power to do it. Do you know what He did? He put off His righteousness and His holiness, and He put on the likeness of you! He put on humanity; He became like you, so that on the cross He could put on your sin. On the cross, He was treated as if He was unrighteous and unholy. And, with the knowledge of Christ’s love for me–the sacrifice that He would make that payment for my sin–now, that is the motivation for me to put off unrighteousness and unholiness, and to put on righteousness and holiness—so that I can look like Christ. That is the new nature that motivates the change!

And then this:

3. Change continues as I learn from a new teacher. (v. 20-21)

Look at verse 20. After Paul describes this life outside of Christ–darkened and alienated and ignorant, with hardness of heart, and calloused and given up to sensuality and practicing every kind of impurity–he uses the great conjunction. What is it? “But that is not the way you learned Christ!” Christ didn’t teach you those things! You must have learned that from somebody else. Probably some seventh-grade friend. Probably from some movie you went to. Probably some stupid app on your phone. That’s the way you learned to be so calloused and so ungodly. You didn’t learn that from Christ.

And listen, if you will not learn from Christ, there will be a thousand other teachers standing in line to take His place. You will either learn from Christ, you will hear from Christ, you will be taught by Christ, or you will become a student of ungodly teachers. So the choice is yours, Christian. Who did you learn that behavior from? And if you’re not changing, it’s because you haven’t been enrolled in the school where Christ is teaching.

Notice what Paul says in verse 21: “…assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus…” Do you remember, earlier, when we said that we were ignorant? Well, listen. That’s because we hadn’t been taught the truth. The truth is in Jesus. And the more the truth gets in you, the more you will change. And the more you will change, the more you will be created after the likeness of Christ, in truth and holiness. Change continues as I learn from a new Teacher. Are you learning from Christ?

You’re going to be here next week, in church, right? You’re coming back? Because we’re not finished; we’re going to have to learn some things. Next week we’re all going to school. We’re all going to school and Christ is going to be our Teacher. I know what some of you are thinking right now. You’re thinking, “If I could just have some specifics.” I anticipated that. So, from your bulletin, I want you to take out the list that looks like this: “Put Off/Put On.” As you pull that out, resist the temptation to look at all of that right now. Let me explain to you what we’re going to do, okay?

Listen, I have learned some things about surviving a Michiana winter. If you’re new to the area, let me help you out, here. The key to surviving a Michiana winter is dressing in layers! Is that correct? When it starts to warm up, you have shed some layers. You have to put off some layers. There are seventy-eight “layers” that Christ wants us to put off. You say, “Man! I didn’t know there was that much sin in the Bible!” This is twenty-five percent of the sin that is mentioned in the Bible. We’re not going to get through all of this. I’ve handed this sheet out before; this is a little tool we’ve used years ago in Life Action. I’ve handed this to hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of congregations. Every now and then we pull it back out, because we need to change!

And, if you were kind of guessing about, “I wonder what God wants to change?” Well, let’s start with this: a lack of love (Number 1). Let me tell you what I want you to do. We’re not going to walk through all this, but we’re going to get you started, and I’m going to give you some time just to sit with Christ, and He’s going to be the Teacher. I’m going to stop teaching, and Christ is going to be our Teacher.

If you have found yourself, in the last twelve months, having a lack of love, I want you to circle the number beside that particular sin. So, a lack of love for God. In the last twelve months, if that’s true, just circle that. A lack of love for your spouse. A lack of love for your children. A lack of love for your parents. A lack of love for your boss. A lack of love for a group of people. A lack of love for people who make more money than you. A lack of love for people who make less money than you. A lack of love for people who look different than you, have a different color than you or of a different political party than you. People from a different part of the world than you. If you’ve had a lack of love. If you’ve had a lack of love for church, if you’ve had a lack of love for your pastor, just go ahead and circle Number 1, if you’ve had any lack of love. Are you understanding this? Because we’re going to put that off. Circle that.

Then, I’m going to give you time here at the end of the service. I’m going to allow you, before God in prayer, to put that off. You’re going to leave it right here. And once you’ve done that, you can check through the number. Alright?

Number 2: judging. Now, Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” That means you should never judge. We judge all the time. About what kind of clothes to wear, who we employ, where we’re going to work, where we’ll go to school. There are all kinds of judgments we’re going to make. What Jesus was saying was, you’re not allowed to judge someone with a different measurement than you judge yourself.

For most of us, what we’re guilty of is, we are way better at seeing the sin in somebody else’s life than we are at seeing it in our own. And the proper attitude of a Christian is to understand, “There is so much unfinished business in me—there is so much that needs to change in me—I’ve got very little time left over to judge you! I’m spending all the time on me!” So, if you are guilty of judging somebody else (that being an easier exercise than judging your own sin), just go ahead and circle Number 2 there, and in a few minutes you can—before God—confess that sin, put it off, and you’re going to put on—on the other side of the page (what does it say?)—“I’m going to let God search my heart!”

Number 3, bitterness. Bitterness is harbored hurt. Somebody hurt you, somebody slandered you, somebody mistreated you, somebody abused you, somebody cheated on you, somebody’s been disloyal to you. And, if you’ve harbored that in your heart and you’ve stored that (kind of for future use) instead of releasing that before God–and understanding that God has forgiven me of so much sin, how can I now not forgive a brother who sins against me? If there’s any ounce of bitterness, I want you to circle Number 3. We’re going to put that off and we’re going to put on Tenderhearted and Forgiving. Okay? That’s the way it’s going to work.

Now, it is 12:08 p.m., and I’m done teaching, but the service is not over. This is what I want you to do: There will be no formal dismissal of this service. I want you to take as much time as you need. I’d like you to at least finish the first page, the first twenty. You may want to take this, and before you go to work tomorrow, pull this back out—either tonight or tomorrow—and work through every one of these seventy-eight things, and say, “God, I want to make sure that I am applying what I’m learning at church! I don’t want to kind of just take notes and say, ‘Wasn’t that a nice service?’ and have people slap me on the back. I want to change! And so, God, I’m putting off. I’m putting on.” You can keep this in your Bible; you can use this as a regular exercise. But we need to get serious about not walking as we once did. Put on the new self; put off the old self!

I’m going to pray for us. I’m going to give you time. We’re going to keep the auditorium quiet, and so let’s save our conversations for out in the lobby. I know you have children to pick up, and things like that. We’ve got them; we’ll keep them for a little while. Let’s just pray right now and ask God to give us His mind as we do this.

Father, today we pray that You would change us continually. Thank you for the conviction of your Spirit, the clarity of Your Word. God, I pray that You would guard us from experiencing any kind of false guilt or false shame, because we know that with an exercise like this comes the knowledge of what You have done—paying the penalty for these things. And yet, you’ve called us to put them off. And so, God, would You give humility? Would You be our Teacher right now? We pray in Jesus’ Name, amen.

You can stay as long as you want. Whenever you feel like God is finished with you, you can slip out quietly. Not everybody is going to leave at the same time; that’s okay. Let’s keep the conversations out in the lobby, and we’ll see you next week. You are loved!