Title Ephesians 04:17-22 Old and New
content old and new
(Ephesians 4:17-22)
No matter how healthy and good-looking other body parts are, it's all over without a head. But physicists Stephen Hawking and Helen Keller have shown that if you have a good brain, you can live successfully even if other parts of your body are wrong.
The head of the church is Jesus.
Therefore, believers should not forget that they can live a beautiful life when they are attached to Jesus, the head. In verse 16, Paul lists six good things that happen when Jesus is the head. It coordinates the whole body to receive the help of each joint, each part of the body,// communicates with each other,// aligns,// allows the body to grow and// stand on its own by allowing each member to work according to its abilities. will be
In the text we read today, if we could find one subject word, it would be "new man". Those who become one with Jesus and become one with the saints, those who live in obedience to Jesus as their head, Paul refers to this person as a “new person”. But the opposite of the new man is not the "old man". Because good things have become old and worn out.
Paul called him “the old man.” That's right. The people of Jesus do not go from being old to being new. It is the man of Jesus who becomes the new man from the old man. It's not about repainting and polishing an old thing to make it look like a new one, but it's a fundamentally complete change that can't be found at all. It is a chemical change, not a physical change.
The old man, whom the Apostle Paul speaks of, is, above all, a man with a vain heart.
Vanity means "useless thinking". Useless thoughts create useless actions, and the actions combine to create a person's entire life, which will also become a useless life.
In verse 18, we see the reason for living a vain life, but it says that we live in vain because of ignorance and stubbornness. Living like this will darken your understanding and lead you from the life of God.
Verse 19 shows the end of a vain life.
It means that they will fall into debauchery and act with greed for all unclean things. In the Bible, debauchery refers to living according to the desires of the flesh. The Bible says, "The desires of the flesh are unclean. It makes a person impure." Says. This is because the human desires are unrestrained and cannot be satisfied no matter how much they fill them, so they drive the human masterpieces of God to fill them with dirty and unclean things.
saints, Do you remember the end of your new life?
It was “to inherit the kingdom of heaven,” as Paul said in chapter 1, and “to sit down with Jesus in heaven” in chapter 2. We become new people and live with the hope of the kingdom of heaven.
How can I be new?
Paul said it countless times in chapters 1 and 2, and also in chapter 3. Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood to renew us. However, I was saved, but living in the world gave me a lot of things to wash and take off. That is why we must come to the cross daily and receive renewal. Then, naturally, you will be able to become a new person who lives with the Lord as the head.