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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Change You Can Really Believe In |
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Ephesians
4:17-24 Nineteenth
Sunday after Trinity September
28, 2008 It seems everyone is talking about change these days, so I thought I would join in. So I’m calling this sermon, “Change You Can Really Believe In.” The change I’m talking about is found in Ephesians 4:17-24, and, if you have your Bibles with you, I ask you to turn to that passage with me, or turn to page 216 of your Prayer Book, because it is that same passage. The change I am talking about is a spiritual change in our lives that is so radical Scripture often calls it crucifixion and resurrection, or being born again, or becoming a new kind of being. In Ephesians 4 it is called putting off the old man and putting on the new. Today I want to look at the old man. This is what we have been delivered from if we have truly repented and unfeignedly believed His holy Gospel. I want to talk specifically about what Paul means in verse 18 when he says, speaking of those outside of Christ, that their understanding is darkened. He starts this passage by saying that the other Gentiles “walk in the vanity of their mind” (vs. 17). Vanity means emptiness and futility. There was a song many years ago, probably around the early 1980s, I don’t remember who did it or what it was called, I only remember three words from it. Those words are “running on empty.” That is just what the Bible is talking about here. People trying to live life by their own rules, trying to make their way in the world without God, without having the sure foundation of His word to build on, or to serve as a lamp to guide their feet are “running on empty” because they simply don’t have the knowledge and experience they need to be the masters of their own fates. There is no fuel in their tank. But it is more than simply not having knowledge or experience. Their problem is deeper than that. For verse 18 tells us their minds are darkened. The best way I can explain this is to say that their minds are controlled by darkness, and darkness, in Scripture always means evil. Look with me at Ephesians 6:11-13. We wrestle with darkness. The Bible is not talking about sport or entertainment, it is talking about hand-to-hand combat in a duel to the death with the forces of darkness. Darkness is our enemy. Its goal is the death of our souls. We wrestle with the “rulers of the darkness of this world” (Eph. 6:12). How can I explain the effect of this darkness upon the minds of people? It is not the lack of education. It is not the lack of knowledge of art, or literature, or science. It is darkness in the things of God. It is the inability to grasp the things of God. It is to be unable to “see God” or to know good from evil in the ultimate sense. It is to be in a state of falling for all the lies and half-truths of the Prince of Darkness, who lures us in with “mighty promises and minimal performances,” as William Hendriksen so accurately observed. (William Hendriksen. New Testament Commentary, Ephesians, p. 214). Satan promises light but delivers darkness. Allow me to quote from Dr. Hendriksen again. “Cain’s
murder of his brother, a deed which had appeared so attractive when
planned, brought noting but a curse.
Absalom’s prospective crown, so dazzling at first, resulted in
his gruesome death. The
vineyard so luscious and so conveniently located that Ahab, in order to
obtain this coveted prize, had not hesitated to sacrifice Naboth’s life,
brought ruin to the king’s household and posterity. The thirty pieces of silver which had shimmered so brightly
in Judas’ scheming, once in his possession had burned his hands,
tortured his soul, and sent the traitor himself scurrying on his way to
hanging and to hell. And, not
to omit one of God’s chosen ones, David, in a moment of weakness, filled
with passionate delight in the thought of pleasant days ahead with the
object of his lustful yearning, was forced to listen to the words of the
Lord which like thunder-bolts fell from the lips of the prophet:
‘You are the man. The
sword will not depart from your house.’
Truly, the old nature flaunts a golden cup, but upon inspection it
is found to contain nothing but filth and abomination (cf. Rev. 17:4).
Hence, the Ephesians had been warned most solemnly to put off the
old man, to fight him with unrelenting and undiminished vigor in order to
divest themselves completely of him” (ibid, p 214). The rest of this passage is dedicated to describing the change that is made in us by the work of the spirit of God. It is a complete change, a new life, a new person. But I want us to end the sermon looking back to what we were delivered from. We swallowed the devil’s bait like fish because our minds were darkened before we were made new in Christ. How many lies of the devil did we fall for? How many lures did we chase aggressively, passionately, desiring them with our whole heart, only to find they were nothing but hooks and pain? And yet, we no sooner tore one out of our mouth than we went chasing after another. Each one causing more pain and sorrow in our souls. Such is the person who walks in the vanity of his mind, following his darkened understanding. Thanks be to God, Christ has delivered us from that. He didn’t just die on the cross to take us to heaven when we can’t stay here any longer. He died to deliver us from the power of sin in this life. I do not say Christians are perfect. We all know better. I do say, because the Bible says, that we are beginning to live a new kind of life, and that life is made possible for us by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Let us ponder these things as we come to the Lord’s Table this morning. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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