Put off Depravity; Put on the Likeness of God (Ephesians 4:17-24)
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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ!
I don’t remember the details exactly.
Let’s just say, a particular Moeller boy, probably around the age of
three, had carelessly broken one of his mom’s “pretties,” and then had hidden
the evidence under his bed. (In
hindsight, it was not exactly the brightest strategy, considering it was his
Mom who cleaned his room; but then you can’t expect a three-year-old to come up
with really brilliant plans, no matter how precocious he may be.)
Anyway, I do remember his Mom finding something destroyed that should
not have been, and asking him if he knew anything about its mangled state. From the look on his face, his Mom knew he
did. She also was pretty sure she knew who
it was who had done the damage and the hiding!
Just to be certain, however, she stated simply and clearly: “You broke
it and then tried to hide it.”
That did it. Tears flowed. His hands went up to his ears. His mouth opened and out came these
fascinating words: “Don’t tell me that!”
What an interesting reaction!
Viewing the mangled “pretty” had troubled the boy. Having that youthful indiscretion discovered
certainly bothered him. But what really
hurt was having to hear with his own ears that he was the one who had broken
it! His three-year-old solution? Cover his ears!
What had happened? The Law of
God had done its work. Yes, even upon
one so small! The Apostle Paul wrote in
his Epistle to the Romans: “Indeed
I would not have known what sin was except through the Law… Apart from the Law,
sin lies dead” (7:7-8).
In John 16:8, Jesus
tells us this exposing of sin by the Law is actually a work of the Holy
Spirit. “When He comes, He will convict
the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John
16:8).
What this means is that
just by his mother stating what was true—that the boy had done something he
should not have done (in this case, broken the Seventh Commandment by not
maintaining and protecting someone else’s property)—the Holy Spirit convicted
the boy of his sin as surely as the words of the prophet Nathan convicted David
of his sins with Bathsheba.
Being so confronted,
David repented. Without such a
confrontation, David would’ve remained dead in his sins. That is, David’s adultery and his murder of
Bathsheba’s husband Uriah would not have caused David to repent. In fact, without Nathan bluntly stating the
obvious, David would’ve kept on living his life—probably in much the same way
as I—I mean “the boy”—would have continued to live with that broken
knick-knack tucked away under the bed!
But this reaction to
the Law of God is not unique, is it?
Each of us, at one time or another, has done the very same thing. In fact, it just may be that the Church at
large itself is currently in the process of lifting up its hands collectively
to stop its ears and screaming out to its pastors: “Don’t tell me that!”
What do I mean? Well, it seems
that there is a general uprising in the Church against any preaching, teaching,
and music which would involve the Holy Spirit, through God’s Word, convicting
hearts of sin, and consequently, causing guilt.
It seems that what modern Christian ears want to hear, what Christian
minds want to contemplate, what Christian emotions want to feel, is not guilt
but joy!
What Christian could be against such a longing? After all, joy is a fruit of the Spirit as
noted by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians (5:22-23). Certainly if given the choice between guilt
and joy, it would be a no-brainer: Joy would win out every time!
But is the joy about which Paul writes simply a surging emotion—no
matter what its cause or reason? More to
the point: Is the joy which is a gift of the Holy Spirit the result of simply
overlooking, denying, or ignoring sin?
That is, of shoving sin under our beds, so to speak, and trying to forget
about it?
To go at this question in another way: Should this mother have, upon
finding the mangled knick knack, simply ignored it and rejoiced that her son
had so much energy? “Boys will be boys,
after all.” Should the boy have, upon
hearing that he had broken his Mom’s “pretty,” simply denied the fact that he
had done it, and rejoiced that no one could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt? Should David have, upon hearing that he had
committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband, Uriah, simply
rejoiced that he was king, and therefore he could do whatever he wanted and no
one would dare question him? If not,
why?
Well, the joy of the Christian is not simply some common type of joy
like we experience when we hit a homerun in the bottom of the ninth or receive
a promotion at work. It is a joy that
flows from the relief of guilt experienced by a three-year-old boy who’s broken
one of his Mom’s favorite treasures. It
is the joy that can only follow the confession of sin and the conviction that
sin has been forgiven because Christ died on the cross for that sin.
So David, after being
confronted by Nathan, does not speak of common joy, but of the joy of salvation
being returned to him, knowing that his sins had been forgiven: “Create in me a
clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy Presence, and take
not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore
unto me the joy of Thy salvation and uphold me with Thy free spirit.”
So if Christian joy
is tied so closely to guilt, why the running away from guilt? Has the Church simply come to the point of
wanting to skip the “guilt” part of life and go right to the joy? Has the Church discovered that it is easier,
more peaceful, and more appealing, to shun guilt and to promote joy?
You may be thinking:
“Well, isn’t that what the Church—of all institutions in society—should
do? Shouldn’t the Church simply welcome,
with open arms, anyone and everyone, regardless of how they live? After all, didn’t Jesus eat with tax
collectors and prostitutes? Who are we
then to condemn anyone? Who are we
to make anyone feel guilt? Shouldn’t the
Christian life be a life of joy based upon not having to worry about who we
are, and what we are doing?”
The only problem with
this line of thinking, of course, is that Jesus Himself frequently spoke about
sin and guilt. In fact, Jesus’ first
public sermon was this: “The kingdom
of God is near. Repent and believe the Good News.”
The importance of
repentance in a Christian’s life led Martin Luther to assert in his 95 Theses:
“When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said ‘Repent,’ He meant that the whole
life of the believers should be one of repentance.”
Now what’s that
mean? How can the entire life of the
Christian be one of repentance? Doesn’t
that mean the entire life of a Christian should be one of guilt?
No, it does not. It does mean,
however, that the Christian life should be real. The
Christian, of all people, should realize that he is still confronted by
sin! Being confronted by sin, the Christian
himself should not shy away from its existence, but admit, that yes, sin does
exist and he is, indeed, sinful.
Repentance is therefore not a once-in-a-while type of situation, but a
Christian’s state of being.
Yes, a Christian, through faith in Jesus Christ, has been redeemed by
Christ and is now considered to be justified before the Father in heaven. The Christian, through the Word of God and
the Sacraments, has received and continues to receive the Holy Spirit, who
works within the Christian to produce His fruits, one of which is joy. The Christian’s sin, however, remains. It remains to bother, to haunt, to trouble,
to perturb, and ultimately to kill.
Until Christ’s return, a Christian’s joy is always tempered by the
ongoing reality of sin—both those sins we actually commit and the sin that
permeates us from conception to natural death.
As long as the Christian realizes this, spiritually he is in a “good
place”, as people say. When a Christian
ignores or runs away from the fact that sin is still a daily part of his life,
trouble begins. He begins to believe
that his heavenly Father loves him for the good things he does, or worse yet,
that God doesn’t care what he does. In
effect, saying to any preaching of the Law: “Don’t tell me that!”
Unfortunately, the Christian Church nowadays, in its attempt to appeal to
the masses, seems to be encouraging this very type of pseudo-Christian life by
making itself a guilt-free zone. To
accomplish this makeover, certain aspects of Christian life are being jettisoned. Sermons which would seek to establish the
guilt of sin have to go. Hymns and songs
which speak of such guilt have to go.
Confession and absolution?
Gone. The Law of God … it must
not be mentioned!
Well, that is not completely true.
The Law of God certainly is mentioned in the Church nowadays, but only
as a standard. Put in another way, the
Law of God is not used to make anyone feel guilty, to strike fear and terror in
their heart, but simply to give Christians a goal to attain or measure progress
in sanctification.
Unfortunately, this has led many Christians to think they don’t really
need to worry about the Ten Commandments anymore. Haven’t Christians been freed from the
Law? Can’t Christians simply live the
way they want to live, free from the fear of doing something that our heavenly
Father wouldn’t like? Can’t Christians
live lives of joy, regardless of how they live from day to day?”
That’s the way the
world thinks. That’s the way our Old
Adam wants us to think. But Paul won’t let
us get by with it. In our text, he
writes: “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer
walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding,
alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to
the hardness of heart. They have become
callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every
kind of impurity” (Ephesians 4:17-19).
Paul contrasts this
pagan worldview with the holy life expected of a Christian: “But that is not
the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about Him and were
taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs
to your former way of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be
renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self, created after
the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
There is a clear-cut,
irreconcilable difference between the unregenerate and the regenerate
person. Still, the truth is, each of us
is a little of both. We are at the same
time sinner and saint. The Christian
created in Baptism to be like God in true righteousness and holiness is given
the strength to fight sin and the old Adam.
Still, this has not changed the corrupt old man that resides within each
of us.
This is a very
sobering thought. The old man is
constantly corrupting himself. The lusts
and desires of the old man are so dangerous to Christians because they are so
deceitful. They seem to promise happiness,
joy, and life, while in reality, they ruin a person that follows their
guidance—both in body and spirit—until he is lost forever.
There is only one remedy to this darkness, to this depravity, and that’s
the Christian solution that was taught to the Ephesians: “to put off your old
self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through sinful
desires; to be renewed in the spirit of your minds.”
This is not
easy. A life of repentance requires
diligence and persistence. But more than
that, it requires the work of the Holy Spirit, who convicts of sin through the
Word of Law and who awakens faith and a resolve to do good by the Gospel. Putting off the old man, being renewed in the
spirit of the mind, and putting on the new man are a continuous, steady
process. We must be daily renewed by the
Holy Spirit through God’s means of grace, lest the old sinful nature once more
gain the upper hand.
This is why Luther
directs us to our Baptism, where the Holy Spirit works faith and creates in us
new life with the power to overcome sin.
“Our Baptism indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily
contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires,
and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in
righteousness and purity forever.”
By Baptism we have
been made to share in Christ’s death and resurrection. As He has buried our sin, so we, too, can and
must daily overcome and bury it. And as
He is risen from the dead and lives, so we, too, can and must daily live a new
life in Him. Every time we recall the
Triune Name into which we were baptized, in church or by ourselves, we recall,
claim, and confess before heaven, earth, and hell all the blessings that God
has given us in our Baptism.
And so, dear
Baptized, I send you home today with this exhortation: Put off depravity; put
on the likeness of God. Put off your old
self with its deceitful desires and put on your new self created in true
righteousness and holiness. Repent and
believe. You are forgiven of all of your
sins. In the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now
may the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.
Amen.
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