Together…In Practice!

Sermon Summary:

In this powerful message, we explore the transformative power of our identity in Christ. The central theme revolves around Ephesians 4:17-24, where Paul contrasts the old life of darkness with the new life of righteousness in Jesus. We’re challenged to consider: do our lives truly look different from those who don’t follow God? The key insight is that as Christians, our daily starting point is righteousness – not because of our own efforts, but because of what Jesus has done for us. We’re reminded that we don’t have to prove ourselves to God; He has already proven His love for us. This shift in perspective from trying to earn righteousness to living out our God-given identity can revolutionize how we approach our faith journey.

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Sermon Points:

• Big Idea: The Christian’s daily starting point is righteousness
• Where is your starting point?
• Jesus has bridged the gap
• “What is a Christian? …The richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father.” – J.I. Packer
• Two perspectives
  • A continual cycle
  • A moment in time
  • As God’s child, you should know:
    • He is always with you
    • He always wants to speak to you
    • He always wants to guide you
    • He always wants to empower you to do the right thing
• Daily Time with God
  • Weekly Worship
  • Monthly unhurried time
  • Consistent community

Download a copy of the “Together” Devotional Book – HERE

Key Takeaways:

• The Christian’s daily starting point is righteousness
• Our identity in Christ is as children of God, not sinners trying to prove themselves
• Living out our new identity involves renewing our minds and putting off the old self
• Practical spiritual growth involves daily time with God, weekly worship, monthly unhurried time, and consistent community
• Submitting to God’s ways and leaning on Jesus shapes our hearts to be more like Him

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Scripture References:

• Ephesians 4:17-24

Stories:

• The speaker’s experience as a freshman in college, feeling uncertain about his future and trying to prove himself
• The analogy of changing jackets (an ugly “Muppet coat” vs. a nice suit jacket) to illustrate putting off the old self and putting on the new self
• The story of the speaker procrastinating on finding an ugly Christmas sweater for a party

Transcript

Good morning, church. So fun fact, before we even get into this, I have a whole intro planned out. This table swivels way more than I thought it would. Look at that. Anyway, a little fun thing aside there. It was August of 2012, and I was moving into my freshman dorm at DBU. I got all my stuff in, I set up my desk, and then the panic set in. I was like, oh my gosh, I’m at college. I have no idea what I’m doing with my life. And I remember walking around DBU, going to one of those patios and kind of leaning against a railing and just pouring out my heart to God. I had ideas about what my future would hold, but I didn’t really know what was ahead of me. For example, I didn’t know that I would only spend one year at DBU before transferring over to UTA. I didn’t know all the friends that I would make. I didn’t know all the adventures I would go on. But again, the thing that I was certain of, was that I was terrified. was very nervous, very stressed. And I don’t think that’s an uncommon emotion to feel in that season. But as I was leaning against that railing and talking to God, it really felt like God was just impressing a question on my heart. It felt like God was asking me, Connor, what are you trying to prove? What are you trying to prove? And I think I moved out. I had tried to be on my own.

So I wanted to prove myself. I wanted to prove that I was smart enough, that I was capable enough, that I could do this. That’s what I wanted to prove. I wanted to prove that I was worth being friends with. And in hindsight, all of those complicated emotions and feelings are easier to put into words all these years later. But I just wanted to feel like I was worthwhile. I wanted to prove that. Has anybody felt that way in the room before? Seasons of life, maybe just chapters changing. Our theme for this year is together. We’re talking about how Jesus is bringing everything together in himself. As a church, we’re going through the book of Ephesians this month. We’re reading it through, all the way through, Sunday to Sunday. And so if that’s news to you, that’s okay. You have plenty of time to catch up. Maybe it’s your first time here. So if it’s your first time, you’re off the hook. It’s fine. You didn’t know there was sound reading. But we’re here this morning. The rest of us know, so we can catch up together.

First text for this morning is Ephesians 4, 17 through 24. So if you’ll turn over there in your scriptures, we’ll read that here in just a moment. As it’s been said, my name is Connor. I’m the college minister here at First Baptist Church Arlington. And if you’re a college student joining us here this Sunday, I just want to extend a special welcome to you. Welcome to this semester as it starts tomorrow. I think the high is like 106. Welcome back to school, I guess. I think my first year here, it was record rainfall. It was like the whole year. I was like, I’m going to go to the UTA. It was flooded. It was crazy that first Monday. Now a couple years later, it’s the exact opposite. But here we are. So let’s jump into our passage. It’s Ephesians 4, 17 through 24. And it says this. So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity. And they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new clothes of your life. And you were taught to put on the new clothes of your self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Our big idea for this morning, the thing that I want us to keep in mind as we talk through this passage, is that the Christian’s daily starting point is righteousness.

The Christian’s daily starting point is righteousness. And as we read over this passage, you probably picked up on this, but Paul is comparing two different ways of life. One is a life marked by darkness, lack of understanding, and ultimately emptiness. And the other one is marked by truth, renewal, and righteousness. And we arrive at these verses after Paul, the author of this letter, has gone into a lot of detail about all these incredible things that Jesus has done for us. He’s saved us. He’s united us with himself and with one another in this thing called the church. And he grows us from immature believers to mature believers. And he grows us from immature believers to mature believers. And he grows us from mature followers. All these incredible things Jesus has done for us. And in light of that, Paul is saying that we must live accordingly. We must live in light of that instead of living as the Gentiles do. And what does he mean by that statement? Well, essentially, he’s talking about those who don’t know God and don’t follow God. So for those of us that do know God and do follow God, our lives should look different, right? Like logically, I think that makes sense. But here’s the question. Do they? Do your lives actually look different from your non-Christian friends and family? Is the way that you make your decisions different from your non-Christian friends and family? Is the way that you engage with entertainment different? Is the way that you engage with political discourse different?

Are your goals centered around Jesus, or is Jesus an accessory to your dreams? I guess the question I’m kind of asking here is, where is your starting point? When it comes to any aspect of life, a decision, a relationship, whatever it could be, is your starting point Jesus? Where is your starting point? Paul notes that for the Gentiles, their thinking and understanding are darkened. And I don’t think that he’s trying to say that these people aren’t intelligent, or they’re not trying to make the best decisions that they can for themselves and their families. I think they are. But fundamentally, their goals are off base because lost people aren’t trying to live out what they were trying to live out. They’re created for, which is to be unified with Jesus. That’s just not the goal. So they’re not going to live that out. And I think that makes sense. But what scripture teaches, and what I’ve found to be true as well, is that the pursuit of anything else is, as Ecclesiastes says, a chasing after the wind, ultimately fruitless and empty. And by the way, this is not the life that God wants for you. It’s not the life that God wants for me. And this is why Paul notes that these unbelievers are excluded from the life of God. You can’t have the life of God if you’re not living life on the path of God. Make sense? Hopefully that makes sense. But alongside all of this, in verse 19, he highlights another problem with this way of living, is that it leads to a callousness within us. The problem is that in the pursuit of our own ways, we will never be satisfied. It’s a cycle that demands a stronger and stronger dosage each time until we are consumed and ultimately destroyed. And Paul’s point here, I don’t think, is to belittle the unbeliever, but rather to highlight to the believer something very important. This is not how you should live, and this is not who you are. Jesus has won for us a new life. Jesus has given us a new identity. As it says in verse 24, in Christ Jesus, we are like God in true righteousness and holiness. Pretty profound statement, right? But here’s my problem, and maybe you can relate to this. When I read over passages like 20 through 24, and all this stuff about put off the old self, I can’t help this lingering question that rises up. And it’s this, what if I don’t feel that way?

This all sounds great, but what if I don’t feel that way? Sometimes when we read passages like this in scripture, these grand statements can crash against our own cynicism and leave us discouraged.

Or we can subconsciously or consciously think, like, that sounds too good to be true, or that’s easier said than done, right? Especially his words here about put off the old self. It almost seems like Paul is saying this, and he’s not saying, but it almost feels like he’s saying, guys, it would just be so much better if you just put off the old self. It would just be so much better if you just stopped sinning. Just stop sinning, and things will be so much easier. And I’m sitting here being like, yeah, Paul, I would if I could. But I can’t. We got some problems. So let’s dig into these four verses and see what we can do about our internal cynics. And let’s start with the part that I think is most directly applicable, that’s putting off the old self and putting on the new. College ministry has a bunch of fun events about the year, one of which is a Christmas party. And a couple years ago, we did an ugly Christmas sweater party. Probably, who’s familiar with the concept of an ugly Christmas sweater party? Okay, for those of you who are unfamiliar, essentially, it is what it sounds like. You wear an ugly Christmas sweater to a Christmas party, and then you have snacks, and it’s fun. I was procrastinating, though, one of those a couple years ago, and I was like, okay, it’s two days away. I got to just go to Target and find the ugliest thing I can find to wear to this ugly Christmas sweater party. And so I found a couple years ago, and I was like, okay, I’m going to go to Target and find this jacket. And it’s tricky to do this, like call something ugly, because maybe some of you in this room are like, I mean, I’d wear that. That looks all right. But this is what was available at Target at the time, and I was like, I think this passes. Because it’s kind of like if you look at it, it’s a little bit like one of those magic eye puzzles, like you start seeing stuff in it, your eyes go cross-eyed. So yeah, and the thing is, I call this jacket, affectionately, my Muppet coat. Because that’s what it looks like, right? It looks kind of like you turn into a Muppet when you wear it. On the other side of the stage here, I have a nicer jacket that might actually go with this outfit. It’s just a suit jacket. It’s nice. And these two images come to my mind when I read over this passage. An old self and a new self. Not so nice jacket and a nice jacket. And maybe you read over this passage, and you get this image of putting off an old jacket, putting on a new jacket, trying to check to see, okay, am I wearing the right thing? Am I wearing the right thing? Am I wearing the right thing today? I feel like I rolled out of bed in the Muppet coat. Like, all these kind of feelings can hit us when we’re reading over this passage. And so here in this moment, you might be asking yourself, okay, I feel like I’m over here, but how do I get over here? How do we bridge the gap?

The good news, the Bible teaches us, is that Jesus has actually bridged the gap. We don’t have to do that ourselves. Jesus does that. But the gospel in the end, though, this question of taking off and putting on is really a question of identity. And so I have to ask you, what is your understanding of your identity in light of the gospel? Maybe put it a different way, what is a Christian? J.I. Packer has a really good definition of it in Knowing God, and I really like it. He says this, what is a Christian? The richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father. Throughout the teachings of Jesus, we’ve been taught that God is one who has God as Father. In the writings of Paul, we’re taught that we’re all sinners. We’ve all fallen short. We’ve all been people who have chosen our own dark path rather than the path that God has set for us. However, when we put our faith in Jesus, we’re not only saved from our sins, but we’re actually adopted into the family of God. Our standing changes from outcast standing in judgment to family member standing in fellowship. If this is true, and the good news is it is, then our starting point each day is not a sinner that God tolerates, but a child that God loves. changes everything. Living out this reality looks like growing more and more into the image of Jesus. Our default state, thanks to the blood of Jesus Christ, is holy and righteous. So what does this have to do with this question of putting on and taking off? Well, I think everything, really. Right over this passage as a newer Christian, I had that image in my mind of swapping out the jackets as the day went on, trying to make sure I was wearing holiness, trying to make sure I was walking in full holiness at all times. And this felt true because we all struggle with sin. But if we can be honest together, cycle is exhausting. If we keep trying to define ourselves by just our actions, if we’re making it or if we’re not, it’s exhausting. However, I think that’s only part of the story in this passage. If you look back over it, in English and in its original language, there’s kind of two perspectives that this passage brings up. One, perhaps this past Paul is trying to highlight that this is a cycle. It’s something you grow in to become more and more like Jesus. It’s that process of sanctification, we call it. But it also leaves room for it to be something that Paul is referring to as an event that takes place in the process of sanctification. It’s something that takes place in the process of sanctification. It’s something that takes place once you become a Christian.

A one-time changing of your status. Jesus removed the old coat and put on the new one. That’s who you actually are. And of course, we walk out these things over time, but Jesus is the one who transforms us. We don’t transform ourselves. This new life actually isn’t something you can take off any more than I can stop being the child of my Father. When God adopts you, you’re his. Back on that patio, as I was wrestling with that question that God asked me and talked about at the beginning, he was asking me, Connor, what are you trying to prove? And I said, man, I’m just desperate to prove myself, to prove that I’m worthy of love. And I think that’s how we can often feel in our own Christian walks. We just want to prove that we’re a good Christian. Maybe we want to prove it to other people. Often we just want to prove it to ourselves that we can do this. Don’t misunderstand. We are still responsible for our conduct and sin. However, when we fall short, and we will, it isn’t that we’ve taken off holiness and put on the old jacket. Rather, I think we’re putting on the old self over our new self, and we’re finding that it just doesn’t fit.

As a child of God, our standing with God doesn’t rise or fall on our mistakes anymore because Jesus paid it all and has given us a new baseline. I think that’s what we need to do. I think that’s what we need to do. I think that’s what we need to do. So at DBU, as I was thinking about that question, God let me kind of wrestle with it for a little while, and it felt like God was saying, hey, you want to try to prove yourself, but how about you let me prove myself in this season? And if I can speak that over our college students, like, you don’t have anything to prove. God has already proved his love and proved that he cares about you more than you could care about yourself. You don’t have to prove yourself to God. He loves you. He cares about you. So as Christians, we don’t start off our day, we need to take off that old self and put on that new self. We’re already holy and righteous. With that being said, though, this new self does take time to grow into. It isn’t a goal that we achieve, but it’s rather a reality that we get better at living out. So we spent a lot of time this morning, a good bit, just hammering home that starting point. Why is that important? It’s important because, as this passage says, we need to renew our minds. We need to look at this and maybe a fresh perspective, because if we get the starting point wrong, then our motivations for pursuing holiness will end in frustration.

That’s where they’ll end. Knowing that our starting point as a Christian is righteousness, let’s bring this all home and talk about some practical stuff. How do we live this out in reality? In your Bible study material that we’ve been passing out for the last few weeks in Ephesians, you’re going to be going over as your focus passage the next few, verses where Paul gives some really like practical, straightforward advice of like, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t be wrathful, all of these things. Very good. But if you’ve been reading over the book of Ephesians, you’ll notice that underpinning all of those practical, just clear statements is a theme. And it’s this, it’s a two-part theme that helps us live this out. If we’re going to live out this, we’ve got to live in the presence of God with God’s people and submit to God’s ways.

That’s underpinning all this in Ephesians as you read over it. So let’s unpack that first part, live in the presence of God with God’s people. Here’s something you should know. As God’s child, you should know that he is always with you. always wants to speak to you. He always wants to guide you. And he always wants to empower you to do the right thing. With all this in mind, we shouldn’t hesitate to want to spend real time with God every day. One of the things that we train in Ephesians is that we want to spend real time with God every day. And we want to spend real time with God every day. And we want to spend real time with God every day. And we want to spend our student leaders in is a diet for spiritual growth. We talked about it yesterday at lead team training. And I talk about it regularly in the college ministry. And we’re going to talk about it here this morning. And it’s kind of a sectioned way of living your life that leads towards growth. I try to live this out. I think it’s applicable no matter what stage of life you’re in, whether you’re a college student or not. But it consists of this daily time with God, time with God to renew your mind, remind you of truth, and jump into your day with you. Weekly worship, just like we’re doing right now, gathering with believers to get some perspective and community. Monthly unhurried time. This in general just means taking some time where you’re not rushed in your time with God. For me, I like doing that at a park bench over at River Legacy and just sitting there and talking with God about what’s on my mind. I went there this past Tuesday just to kind of think about all the stuff that we had coming up with college kickoff and pray for a lot of you college students coming. And then consistent community. This is just because community happens all over the place in different times. Maybe it’s not a weekly thing. It needs to be a thing that happens in between these Sundays and Thursday nights for college ministry. All of these things, as I said, apply for all points in our lives.

Whatever life stage you’re in, you can live out this kind of daily diet or timely diet to grow in your faith. But since this is College Sunday, I wanted to speak to our college students in the room and talk about what this really looks like. I want to talk about what this really looks like. As a college student, daily, you need to set a time on your phone or in your schedule where Jesus is a starting point and not an afterthought. As best as you can do that. And it’s okay. You’ll miss a day or two here and there. But you need to have a habit in your life where you’re starting your day and inviting Jesus into it. It doesn’t have to be a three-hour Bible study every day, but it does need to be a bit of time to invite God into your day. Weekly worship. Hey, can we be honest? It is hard to find a church. It’s tricky. Good news is you found a great church this morning if you’re here with us. But if you’re looking for other churches, I’m happy to recommend some in the area with great college ministries that, you know, I work with other college ministers. I’m happy to refer you elsewhere because we want you, like, my goal is, like, we’d love for you to be here, but ultimately my goal is for you to be in community at a church somewhere here in DFW. I want to help you find that. But by week three or four, here’s your goal. Pick a church. Doesn’t mean you have to, like, commit forever, but pick a church that you’re going to consistently go to because it takes time to build connection. And the semester really isn’t as long as you think it is. If you’re six weeks in and you’re still church hopping, it’s going to be very easy to say, I just don’t want to deal with the awkwardness. I’m just not going to go. Classes are ramping up. It’s getting stressful. I don’t need to add more stress of meeting new people. And then you’ll drop out. It’ll happen. Happens all the time. We see it all the time. And I don’t want that for you. I want you to find community. And for those of you that have found this as your church, be the bridge for your friends. Help them get over that to get here. And that monthly unhurried time, this is true for everybody, you’ve got to put it on your calendar. If you don’t have a calendar, today is the day to buy a calendar or to create a Google Calendar account or iCalendar or whatever it is that you’re using. Have a calendar. We all need this. If you don’t schedule it, it won’t happen. This monthly unhurried time will not happen if you do not put it on your calendar. Just a pro tip. If you want it, schedule it. And then a consistent community. As we said, it takes time to build connections, but making friends requires showing up.

For college students, we have several ways that you can jump into this. We have a weekly Thursday night gathering that starts up this Thursday at 6.30. We’re having free Chick-fil-A for dinner, so you should totally be there. It’ll be a lot of fun. But we’re meeting over in the college building just across the street from our main campus. And we’re going to be doing a lot of our addresses all over the place on our Instagram if you want to find it. Free dinner at 6.30 every Thursday this semester. Worship starts at 7.30. It’s led by our college band. I’ll preach after that. And we’re usually wrapped up around like 8.30-ish. You know how it is. 8.30-ish. And this is a great place to come, meet fellow students, get connected, and grow in your faith together. The other option that is great, add to it, or maybe this is your switch out or whatever, is Sunday morning Bible study. 9.30, we meet in that same building across the street. Around 9.30, we get into our different small groups. This is a great place to be known, to get prayed for, discuss the passage. We discuss the same passage that we go through here in our worship service at 11 o’clock. It’s a great way to prepare for the service and get community here at our church. There is a barrier to entry with any community. This is just true. But we want ours at the college ministry to be a curb. You’ve still got to take a step, but that’s about it. We want to help you carry on for the rest. So that’s how we live out that renewed life in that first part. Living in God’s presence daily, weekly, monthly, consistently, and then with God’s people. We need that. But that second half, submitting to God’s ways, it’s easier said than done, right? But if we have turned to God, if we’ve asked for his renewal in our lives daily and are consistently aware of his presence, when we are faced with temptation, I think, we’ll be equipped to actually turn to him and ask him to empower us for the righteousness that we need to make the right decision. And even when we fall short, we need to remember that our identity is not rooted in our sin, but it’s actually defined by our Savior. Acting out in brokenness is not who we really are anymore. The enemy will try to tell you different, but Jesus has one for you, a new start. And the good news about this renewed life is that it’s possible. Living it out just happens in the eternally important, sacred, yet mundane moments of our everyday lives. When we lean on Jesus to be generous rather than greedy, we lean on Jesus to forgive rather than hold a grudge. We lean on Jesus for self-control rather than losing our temper. We lean on Jesus to be satisfied rather than given to sin. When we lean on Jesus, he shapes our hearts. Bit by bit, day by day, to be more and more in the image and the shape of Jesus. And I think what we’ll find is that eventually, the old self, the old jacket, it just doesn’t fit anymore. Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for the gospel. And we thank you that today can be a day of new beginnings. Lord, it’s the beginning of a new semester. But Lord, I wonder if there are people in this room who it needs to be the beginning of a new semester. And I wonder if there are people beginning of their eternity. Lord, I pray that you would speak to the hearts of us as we’re here in this moment, lead us closer to you, or be over this semester. I pray for protection over our college students, the ones here, Lord, and the ones that have moved away.

Those that were with us over the summer, God, who have moved back, or those, Lord, who are starting out. Maybe they’re in another church visiting for the first time. Lord, I pray that they would find good community. I pray that they would find people who notice them and invite them in. Lord, we ask for revival in this generation, Lord, that it would start here at UTA, that it would start at DBU and TCC and ABU and all these, TCU, all these different places, God, that are represented here in this room and more. Lord, do a work that’s beyond us, that none of us would ever be able to do. That none of us can take credit for. Do a work. Father, this time is yours. Speak to hearts. Move us. Help this to sink in, God, that our daily starting point is righteousness. In your name I pray. Amen.