No Longer Live as Americans Live

Charles P. Wilson

Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted 7 years ago

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Every Christian must “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called!” Paul the prisoner for the Lord, passionately urged the Ephesians to change the way they thought and lived in light of God the Father’s election to salvation in accordance with the gospel.

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Introduction

Every Christian must “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called!”

Paul the prisoner for the Lord, passionately urged the Ephesians to change the way they thought and lived in light of God the Father’s election to salvation in accordance with the gospel. Why such an urgent plea from the Apostle Paul? In the past I’ve told you about the beauty seen in the ruins of Ephesus, in fact, I showed actual photos of the ancient ruins taken when I visited Turkey. But I must now address the ugliness of Ephesus when it was a live and thriving city.

Why such an urgent plea from the Apostle Paul? In the past I’ve told you about the beauty seen in the ruins of Ephesus, in fact, I showed actual photos of the ancient ruins taken when I visited Turkey. But I must now address the ugliness of Ephesus when it was a live and thriving city.

Ephesus was one of the most dissolute and evil of all the cities; in fact some mentioned that it was the most evil city in all of Asia Minor.

Some of you may be thinking, I thought Corinth was the worst city. Corinth was a wicked place also, but it was located in Greece, not Asia Minor. Greece was a different location and smaller land mass than Asia Minor. Back to my point, Ephesus was really a religious center. There were multiple temples and idols, but it was the particular focus of Diana, and other name for Diana was Artemis. Her temple was one of the seven wonders of the known world at the time.

One would think with the name Diana or Artemis this idol would be beautiful in design. But Artemis was a big, dark, ugly thing, that looked like something between a cow and a wolf – hideous in its design.

Artemis was a big, dark, ugly thing, that looked like something between a cow and a wolf – hideous in its design.

It supposedly fell out of heaven, and so they worshiped this big dark thing. But the temple of Diana was also an art museum with few equals. They had their collections of great works of art. In addition, it was an asylum for criminals. One quarter mile around the circumference of the temple of Diana was a free zone of sorts for any criminal so you can imagine the kind of crowd that collected there. Lastly, it was the greatest bank in the world.

A sacred temple like this was a good place for a bank, because in those days security was very primitive. The bank locks lack any real protection, so the best place to put a bank was in the middle of a temple. Why a bank in the temple? Because people would be fearful do anything due to the reprisal of the gods, which the citizens of Ephesus lived in fear of. So they made temples into banks, so it was a place where there was a lot of money.

primitive. The bank locks lack any real protection, so the best place to put a bank was in the middle of a temple. Why a bank in the temple? Because people would be fearful do anything due to the reprisal of the gods, which the citizens of Ephesus lived in fear of. So they made temples into banks, so it was a place where there was a lot of money.

Pilgrims, by the thousands, came to this place not because of its wonder and beauty, but because of the worship that went on there was perverse and perverted making it very popular.

Like today all you have to do is invent a religion where sex is the key thing, and you’ll have a whole bunch of people eager to get involved and become religious, and that’s exactly what happened.

The goddess of Ephesus, Diana, was worshiped as a sex goddess.

The place was packed with eunuchs, who were made eunuchs in order to accommodate that kind of activity, and there were thousands of priestesses and temple prostitutes, singers, dancers, all in the midst of the occurrence of the deepest and darkest sexual activities. One writer says the worship was a kind of hysteria, where the people with shouts and music worked themselves into frenzies of shameless sexual activity, including self-mutilation. Heraclitus said the temple was, and I quote, “The darkness of vileness. The morals were lower than animals, and the inhabitants of Ephesus were fit only to be drowned,” end quote. This was Ephesus with all of its wonder and artist beauty, but the reality was it was dark and ugly.

Of course, in the book of Acts we are told about the revolt of the silversmiths where there was a terrible riot that broke out due to the lost of businesses. The Apostle Paul and others came in and shut down all the businesses, these business people couldn’t sell their little gods because many of the Ephesians were turning to Jesus Christ.

In the midst of all of this darkness, the little church in Ephesus was an island in a cesspool.

Ephesus was a vile, sinful world for those early Christians to live in, and so the Apostle Paul says to them in verse 17, “You’ve got to be different. You’ve got to be different. You can’t walk like they walk; you can’t do what they do.” Living the new life is tough, but living the new life is necessary. You’ve got to put off that old man, that old lifestyle.

The Title of my sermon is: No Longer Live as Americans Live

I have two points:

Exhortation to Live Differently (vs. 17)

Description of the Condition and Lifestyle of Non-Christians (vss. 18-19)

Exhortation to Live Differently (vs.17)

The Apostle Paul begins by addressing the Ephesians in a most solemn manner.

He wants to call attention to something that is of vital importance to them. ‘Now this I say, and testify in the Lord.’ He is not content with saying ‘This I say therefore’; that would be strong, but he adds to it—‘This I say, and testify in the Lord.’

What does he mean by this word testify? The word really means solemnly to enjoin, to entreat with seriousness.

It is as though he were invoking a witness. When you give a testimony you are bearing witness to something. A person is put in a witness-stand and he testifies. And that is exactly what the Apostle is saying.

And that is exactly what the Apostle is saying. He is anxious that they should not think for a moment that he is merely stating his own personal opinion, for there were people then (as there are now) who were only too ready to say, That is only Paul’s opinion; that is what Paul thinks.

He is anxious that they should not think for a moment that he is merely stating his own personal opinion, for there were people then (as there are now) who were only too ready to say, That is only Paul’s opinion; that is what Paul thinks.

By that expression ‘in the Lord’ he does not mean so much that he is invoking the Lord as his witness although you do find that sometimes in the Scripture—‘As God is my witness’, a person says, or ‘In the presence of God’. But here it does not mean exactly that.

“in the Lord...” What Paul means is he is testifying to this as one who is in the Lord; he is one who is in communion with the Lord. In other words, he is speaking with the full authority of an Apostle.

In other words he is speaking with the full authority of an Apostle.

In other words, he is speaking with the full authority of an Apostle.

Darkness and Light: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17–5:17 Chapter 2: The Emptiness of the Christless Life

To what, then, is he testifying? What is this injunction which he puts to them in such a solemn manner, having arrested their attention, and having made them realise that they are listening to the word of the living God?

Darkness and Light: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17–5:17 Chapter 2: The Emptiness of the Christless Life

With an urgent solemn plea, Paul says, “that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do…”

To what, then, is he testifying? What is this injunction which he puts to them in such a solemn manner, having arrested their attention, and having made them realize that they are listening to the word of the living God? With an urgent solemn plea, Paul says, “that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do…” The walk, as used in Scripture, means the whole of a man’s life, inward and outward. We must remember that our walk is not confined to the outward, it involves the inward also. A man is as he thinks, and his walk in life tells you what he is thinking, because his walk is an expression of his worldview.

The walk, as used in Scripture, means the whole of a man’s life, inward and outward.

We must remember that our walk is not confined to the outward, it involves the inward also.

A man is as he thinks, and his walk in life tells you what he is thinking, because his walk is an expression of his worldview.

Paul says, “in the futility of their minds.”

The word for "futility" suggests being void of useful aims or goals.

It means something which is aimless, pointless, lacking direction, it does not bring you to any goal, and of course it leads in the end to utter futility, to that which is absolutely empty.

It means, therefore, something which is aimless, pointless, lacking direction, it does not bring you to any goal, and of course it leads in the end to utter futility, to that which is absolutely empty. That, then, is his description in general of the life of the pagan Gentile world.

Unbelievers failed to attain the true purpose of the mind, namely, to receive God's revelation which would guide them in their conduct.

That, then, is Paul’s description in general of the life of the pagan Gentile world.

If this letter were to have gotten into the hands of non-Christian Gentiles in Ephesus (or elsewhere), it would have been the cause of great offense. Most Gentiles would not have viewed themselves in these terms.

If this letter were to have got into the hands of non-Christian Gentiles in Ephesus (or elsewhere), it would have been the cause of great offense. Most Gentiles would not have viewed themselves in these terms. Many, such as the Stoics, believed that they had a coherent way of viewing the world and a moral lifestyle that displayed many virtues and repudiated numerous vices. Paul’s problem is that their aims, goals, and lifestyles were not ordered around the revealed will of the one true God. Life apart from the one God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is ultimately meaningless.

Most Gentiles would not have viewed themselves in these terms. Many, such as the Stoics, believed that they had a coherent way of viewing the world and a moral lifestyle that displayed many virtues and repudiated numerous vices. Paul’s problem is that their aims, goals, and lifestyles were not ordered around the revealed will of the one true God. Life apart from the one God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is ultimately meaningless.

Many, such as the Stoics, believed that they had a coherent way of viewing the world and a moral lifestyle that displayed many virtues and they avoided numerous vices of their day.

Paul’s problem is the Stoics their aims, goals, and lifestyles were not ordered around the revealed will of the one true God. Life apart from the one God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is ultimately meaningless, futile, and vain.

Darkness and Light: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17–5:17 Chapter 2: The Emptiness of the Christless Life

you cannot have morality without godliness. There in a phrase, it seems to me, I have indicated the whole trouble during the last fifty years in particular. There are good people in the land who are very much concerned about morality; but they are not concerned about godliness. You simply cannot have morality, finally, without godliness. And the last half century has proved that to the very hilt. If we go back a hundred years and more we find that the great emphasis was upon godliness, and that the morality came out of the godliness.

You cannot have morality without godliness as the Stoics felt back in Paul’s day and what many people are attempting to do today. In the last 100 years, there are good minded people who are very much concerned about morality; but they are not concerned about godliness. You simply cannot have morality, finally, without godliness. If we go back a hundred fifty years and more we find that the great emphasis was upon godliness, and that the morality came out of the godliness.

This whole issue boils down to the mind in learning, teaching, and knowing, as opposed to ignorance; the mind is the issue.

The point being this – now, here’s the key: Christians think different then unbelievers, “and as a man thinks in his heart so is he.” We’ve got to think different, and when we think different we will act different.

We’ve got to think different, and when we think different we will act different. Salvation first of all is a change of mind. It is a new thinking process. Unsaved people can’t think right according to biblical standards. I don’t say that to be mean spirited. Salvation is a change of mind, a new thinking process. We must all understand that Christianity is cognitive before it’s experiential.

Salvation first of all is a change of mind. It is a new thinking process. Unsaved people can’t think right according to biblical standards. I don’t say that to be mean spirited. We must all understand that Christianity is cognitive before it’s experiential.

The reason why I am laboring on this point is because it seems to me that here we have a perfect description, analysis, and explanation of what is increasingly becoming true of life in the technological world in which we are living. So as we read Paul’s words, we are not simply looking at a pagan perverted society in Ephesus over two thousand years ago; we are also looking at America today; here is modern life, here is the modern world.

The principles that the Apostle teaches here are always true, and I suggest that our world is becoming more and more what it is for the reasons given here, and because of the failure of modern man to realize the truth of it.

So as we read Paul’s words, we are not simply looking at a pagan perverted society in Ephesus over two thousand years ago; we are also looking at America today; here is modern life, here is the modern world.

Description of the Condition and Lifestyle of Non-Christians (vss. 18-19)

Paul is not content with merely stating his exhortation in general.

Description of the Condition and Lifestyle of Non-Christians (vss. 18-19)

In verses 18 and 19 he proceeds to analyze the condition, especially to show why people come to live such a life. Very plainly and in detail he shows us what it is that has produced such a mentality and such an outlook.

He gives us a most accurate description of the life of the ancient, pagan world, and, as we have seen, an equally accurate description of the life that is being lived by the vast majority of Americans today.

Paul is not content with merely stating his exhortation in general. In verses 18 and 19 he proceeds to analyze this, especially to show why people come to live such a life. Very plainly and in detail he shows us what it is that has produced such a mentality and such an outlook. He gives us a most accurate description of the life of the ancient, pagan world, and, as we have seen, an equally accurate description of the life that is being lived by the vast majority of people today. And the question that must arise in our minds is, What is it that can account for the fact that anybody should live such a life, such a completely empty and vacant life, a life that promises so much and in the end gives nothing? What can account for the fact that a human being should ever be attracted by such a life and should ever want to live it?

And the question that must arise in our minds is, What is it that can account for the fact that anybody should live such a life, such a completely empty and vacant life, a life that promises so much and in the end gives nothing? What can account for the fact that a human being should ever be attracted by such a life and should ever want to live it?

The Apostle Paul gives us a psychological profile of a non-Christian’s condition.

Observe his words, “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 and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”

Let us observe the Apostle Paul’s psychological profile of this condition. Observe his words, “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 and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” Such is the condition, not only of the unbelievers of over two thousand years ago, it is an exact description and analysis of the condition of the intelligent, sophisticated, technological people in this modern world who laugh at Christianity, who deride the Christian faith, and who boast of their knowledge, learning, intellect, and understanding. This is the truth about them. That is the amazing thing.

Such is the condition, not only of the unbelievers of over two thousand years ago, it is an exact description and analysis of the condition of the intelligent, sophisticated, technological people in this modern world who laugh at Christianity, who speak out against the Christian faith, and who boast of their knowledge, learning, intellect, and understanding.

The Apostle Paul gives us the truth about them. That is the amazing thing.

Firstly, they are alienated from the life of God through, or because of, the ignorance that is in them; and secondly, because of the blindness, or rather the hardness, of their hearts.

What is the position of these people who walk in the futility of their mind? The two chief things to be said about them, says the Apostle, are, first, that their understanding is darkened; secondly, they are alienated, they are estranged, from the life of God. And then he immediately tells us why they are alienated from the life of God. It is because, firstly, they are alienated from the life of God through, or because of, the ignorance that is in them; and secondly, because of the blindness, or rather the hardness, of their heart. Why is it that these people are ignorant? Why is it that their hearts are hardened? The answer is, because their understandings are darkened!

Why is it that these people are ignorant? Why is it that their hearts are hardened? The answer is, because their understandings are darkened!

Now, you know you can’t really face people in our world who don’t know Christ and tell them they’re ignorant as a general rule, because we’re such an educated society, people take that as an insult.

It is because no society in history has ever been much more educated than we have. We’ve got all kinds of people with education. But as the apostle Paul said, they are “ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Men have a natural inability to understand the things of God; they just can’t. They have a useless mind, and a useless mind can’t gain biblical god-honoring truth.

But as the apostle Paul said, they are “ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Men have a natural inability to understand the things of God; they just can’t. They have a useless mind, and a useless mind can’t gain truth.

There is no word that the Bible uses more frequently with respect to the man who is not a Christian than the word fool.

A fool is a man who lacks understanding, a man who does a thing because he does not know better; he does and says things without thinking at all. That is the word the Bible uses about the sinner, the man who is not a Christian. It is the fool who has said in his heart, There is no God. Why? It is because he has not got understanding.

Let me illustrate this point. In the early spring my golf buddies and I were playing a golf course that I never played before. That particular morning the fog was heavy and I couldn’t see the first hole at all. They all told me the direction and where to aim. The fog was so thick and dark that no matter how I strained to see the hole I couldn’t see it.

Let say since I couldn’t see the first hole I tell my golf buddies that I don’t believe a word they are saying. I go on to say that there is no hole there and these guys are idiots to suggest there is a hole out there. Since I can’t see the hole, I don’t allow myself to understand their directions.

What would they say? What would they think? They would think I’m the idiot. They would have said that I was a fool, and they would have been right. That is precisely the position with all who are not Christians. Their understandings are darkened!

So this, then, is the order: because unbelievers’ understandings are darkened they are full of ignorance, their hearts are hardened, and those two things in turn lead to their alienation from God.

We must never say that their understandings are darkened because of the ignorance that is in them. That is putting the whole process in the wrong order. They are ignorant because their understandings are darkened.

So this is the fundamental statement: the darkening of the understanding leads to ignorance, then to hardening of the heart, and these two lead to an alienation from the life of God.

That is just the half of the unbelievers conduct. Once alienated from the life of God, the heart of an unbeliever becomes “petrified,” hardened against the things of God. They then give themselves up to sensuality.

The Greek word for sensuality means shameless wantonness. It means unblushing obscenity, its primary reference being with sexual obscenities. Those given up to sensuality couldn’t care less who they shocks, couldn’t care less how indecent they are, as long as they gratifies their own sick, warped mind.

These people have given themselves over to sensuality. It isn’t psychological, it isn’t sociological, it is personal, and here’s the whole point: they choose to make a choice.

ouldn’t care less who he shocks, couldn’t care less how indecent he is, as long as he gratifies his own sick, warped mind.

shameless wantonness. It means unblushing obscenity, its primary reference being with sexual obscenities.

You choose to do something evil, and you choose it again, and you choose it again, and you choose it again, and you keep doing that, and you keep pressing the guilt down. You petrify yourself in the choice, you become unblushing in your commitment to obscenity, and you have a mind that no longer can be a mind for you. It is incapable of thinking.

They choose to do something sexually obscene, and they choose it again, and they choose it again, and they choose it again, and they keep doing that, and they keep pressing the guilt down.

They have given themselves over to it. It isn’t psychological, it isn’t sociological, it is personal, and here’s the whole point: you choose to make a choice.

They petrify themselves in the choice they make, they become unblushing in their commitment to obscenity, and they have a mind that no longer can be considered a mind. Their minds are incapable of thinking right. Then they attempt to make their way of thinking as normative.

Paul says they are greedy to practice every kind of impurity. The term greedy in Greek is a reference to business and obtaining stuff. These people then make a business out of their unblushing commitment to obscenity.

These people then make a business out of their unblushing commitment to obscenity.

This is so true of today. The movie industry, television industry, music industry, and the pornography industry all have an unblushing commitment to obscenity.

Dear brethren, what part do we have to do with any of this; what part do we have with such bold faced obscenity? They do it with greediness; the Greek term also means an unlawful desire for things that belong to others.

Beloved, what part do we have with that; what part do we have with that? They do it with greediness; the Greek word means an unlawful desire for things that belong to others. They’re after you. They’re after the purity that belongs to you, the sanity that belongs to you, the money that belongs to you, the morality that belongs to you, the character that belongs to you – they want it all. They want it all. What do we have to do with that stuff? Paul looks at the pagan, evil world, and he sees its terrible, self-centered, purposeless, fantasizing, useless thinking, that leads to a darkened understanding and a hard heart, which leads to an insensitivity to any sin, and a shamelessness, which leads to unblushing obscenity.

These type people in America are after you. They’re after the purity that belongs to you, the sanity that belongs to you, the money that belongs to you, the morality that belongs to you, the character that belongs to you – they want it all. They will not be satisfied until we agree with their lifestyle or they will do all in their power to silence us.

Paul looks at the pagan, evil world, and he sees its terrible, self-centered, purposeless, fantasizing, useless thinking, that leads to a darkened understanding and a hard heart, which leads to an insensitivity to any sin, and a shamelessness, which leads to unblushing obscenity.

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk or behave as the Americans do!

Conclusion

Learn to Think. If the problem is distorted thinking, we need a wholesale restructuring of the mind. The light of the gospel shows the channels along which new thinking must run, and the Spirit engages our spirit in reordering life.

We must learn to think for ourselves along Christian lines. Our primary moralists today are popular singers, actors, opinion radio and TV programs, and talk-show hosts; they have led our society to ruin. Surely Christians have something better to say—if we think through the significance of the gospel. We must therefore analyze life and the gospel and take care of the interior life. The heart, the control panel from which life is ordered, must be continually made conscious of God and not merely of self. We must take time to think in communion with God, to reflect and meditate. Without attention to the interior life, no restructuring will occur.

Learn to Assess Our society. Since conformity to our society is prohibited, an honest assessment of it is required. What evidence is there of futility and skewed minds, of hardness of heart, and of sensuality and corrupting desires? What is neutral in the society and what fits positively with God's purpose for humanity?

Far to many Christians assume the agenda that society sets is reality and, therefore, is the agenda for Christians as well. But we live in a society that is out of control. Its agenda places the self-interests of pleasure, recognition, and possessions as the goals of life. Concern for God and denial of self do not fit the this world’s system. But life is not about self-satisfaction; it is about relations both with God and with other people.

“You’ve got to be different. You’ve got to be different. You can’t walk like they walk; you can’t do what they do.” Living the new life is tough, but living the new life is necessary. You’ve got to put off that old man, that old lifestyle.

“You’ve got to be different. You’ve got to be different. You can’t walk like Americans walk; you can’t do what Americans do.” Living the new life is tough, but living the new life is necessary. You’ve got to put off that old man, that old lifestyle.

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