Title: Wear Your New Life
Let me tell you about your coworker Ned.
Ned’s house burned down.
It’s a total loss.
Insurance paid out, giving him plenty of money to replace everything.
But Ned refuses to buy new clothes.
He keeps wearing the smoke‑soaked, sweaty outfit he ran out of his house in - EVERY DAY.
Same stains.
Same faint smell of campfire… except it’s not faint anymore.
When people ask about his clothes.
Ned lies saying, “Oh this? No, I have several of these.”
“I’m just simplifying my life.”
He goes as far as to say, “Management says I have to wear this.”
At first, he’s embarrassed.
Then defensive.
Then irritated, frustrated, and angry
Eventually he snaps in the break room:
“WHY ARE YOU SO OBSESSED WITH MY CLOTHES?”
And over time, the smell sets in.
Clients start requesting someone else.
Coworkers roll down the windows in the company car.
HR schedules a “conversation.”
The tragedy isn’t that Ned can’t change.
The tragedy is that he won’t.
Even as you’re all tiptoeing around him, his co-workers have compassion on him.
The office takes up a collection.
Some buy him groceries.
You even start a GoFundMe.
Then your co-workers discover Ned already cashed the insurance check.
He’s having a gourmet kitchen installed.
He’s bought new furniture and has plenty of money to spare.
But he’s Still wearing the burned clothes.
When asked he replies, “I didn’t want anyone to find out because I like all the free stuff!”
You’d say to him,
“Buddy… you shouldn’t be living like this.”
“Also, the choices you’re making/the way you’re treating your co-workers are affecting all of us.”
That’s exactly what Paul is telling believers.
Paul says we’ve put off the old self and put on the new.
That means the wardrobe of our former life has already been removed in Christ.
What remains is whether we continue to reach into the ashes and put it back on.
We learn about some practical ways we can put off the old and put on the new in Ephesians 4:25–29
* 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we
are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27
and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing
honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no
corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion,
that it may give grace to those who hear.
If you recall from last week, we learned about how in Christ our old self has been put off and the new self
has been put on.
We’re moving into a section of specific examples of how we are to live out the truth of who we are in Christ.
It’s very helpful to notice the pattern of what’s being taught in these specific examples.
I want to communicate this first so that, even if your besetting sin isn’t addressed here, you can see the
pattern of how you should deal with it.
In each of these for examples we’re told
1. To rid ourselves of a sin
2. To replace it with the godly action that corresponds to the sin.
3. The reason or intended result of living as God desires.
I think it’s also important to note that we need to avoid two types of sins, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The first would be sins of commission.
These are sins we shouldn’t commit are lying, acting in a rage, stealing, and using foul language.
There are also sins of omission, which means omitting the behavior we’ve been commanded to have.
These would include failing to speak the truth, reconciling or taking our anger to the Lord, giving to
help with the needs of others, and speaking words that build others up.
We’re challenged about falsehood and the value truth as we learn we should.
1. REPLACE TELLING LIES WITH TRUTH TELLING.
* 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are
members one of another.
Therefore could be stated as “for this reason.”
What reason do we have for putting away falsehood and instead speaking the truth?
It is from v. 24 - we have “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in TRUE righteousness
and holiness.”
As we learned last week from the previous verses, God has decisively stripped off the old selves/old nature
from the person who has trusted Christ as his Savior and Lord.
But it remains for us to live in this truth by regularly putting away what feels very natural for us to cling to.
Paul states this very similarly in
* Colossians 3:9–10 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its
practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its
creator.
Lying is a regular part of the life of the unbelieving world as it allows people to control their world.
While the Christian can fall into trap of telling falsehoods, It should never characterize our lives.
Rather than living in falsehood, we are to speak the truth in place of lying.
The first area of focus has to do with our relationships with fellow believers because of the context of
Ephesians focusing so much on our relationships with one another.
But this doesn’t mean that our truthfulness should be limited to fellow Christians.
* for we are members one of another.
But the reason were given (aside from simple obedience to God’s command) reflects that this command has
strong implications for relationships within the church.
The literal translation of this statement explains we are members alongside one another
This precious bond must be protected from the destructive impact of falsehood.
Some of you have experienced feeling like the room is spinning when it’s not.
I remember talking with a man that experienced terrible vertigo.
He was literally standing up and suddenly did half a backflip, landing on his head.
Why? – Because some part of his body (inner ear?) told his brain he was upside down.
We don’t realize how important it is that our inner ear tells us we’re standing on the floor until it lies to us.
We don’t know the importance of the electric impulses sent to our hearts until it’s told to go out of rhythm.
We don’t like feeling pain, but if we felt no pain, it’d be too easy to burn yourself badly before knowing it.
Lies don’t just break rules—they break body life.
We’re called to put off lying and put on truth telling.
And this allows us to live in relationship with one another as God intended.
John MacArthur reminds us of the fact that lies can take many forms, some of which are more easily
justified.
He writes, “Lying includes more than simply telling direct falsehoods. It also includes exaggeration, adding
falsehood to that which begins as true… Cheating in school and on income tax returns is a form of lying.
Making foolish promises, betraying a confidence, flattery, and making excuses are all forms of lying.
Christians should strip off all forms of lying from their lives.
Sidenote –
It should be noted that telling the truth doesn’t require us to tell everything we know or believe.
Telling the truth doesn’t mean you can’t keep a person’s confidence.
Truthfulness doesn’t demand that we tell everything we know or think.
Sometimes, this could be very unloving.
Truthfulness does require that when we do speak, we speak the truth without any degree of deception.
With that, I’d like to focus in on something that any of us can struggle with an any moment and challenge
you to -
2. REPLACE AGGRESSION WITH ADDRESSING YOUR ANGER. (26-27)
* 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the
devil.
Not all anger is wrong nor is a person always wrong for being angry.
God Himself is described as being angry with sin and some sinners.
Jesus showed righteous indignation while walking the earth but kept His emotions under perfect control.
The difference between us being angry and God being angry comes down to the fact that He’s righteous.
And we’re unable to keep anger from destroying us and our relationships
I’ve found it helpful to understand that anger could be sourced in fear, hurt, or frustration.
Living in a fallen world, these are going to be the result of disappointing moments of our lives.
But we’re commanded to not let them stick around.
* do not let the sun go down on your anger,
We must deal with our anger quickly and rightly, in a righteous way in order to not hold onto it.
And doing so before we go to bed is the best (and commanded) timeframe to deal with it.
What happens when we sleep on our anger?
It seems like NOTHING happens.
We wake up the next morning, and the next day is going before we know it.
We don’t realize or maybe we’ve normalized that fear, frustration, or hurt associated with that person or
situation.
Sometimes the encouragement to sleep on it and see if you feel better about it in the morning isn’t good.
[Illus - “Festering Wound”]
I think the image of a festering wound is a good illustration of the danger of anger.
The skin may have covered it over, but under the surface, it’s infected and getting worse.
This is a good image in mind for anger that’s been allowed to linger without being dealt with.
Anger festers into bitterness, hostility, malice, or vindictiveness.
Verse 27 gives us a special insight into the spiritual danger of allowing our anger to fester.
* 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
One lexicon translates this as - “Do not give the devil a chance to exert his influence”
The word translated opportunity is “topos” which means “place.”
It’s the same term from which we get topographical map.
We should all be able to agree that the devil is the ultimate enemy of our souls.
If God were to withhold His restraining hand from Satan’s forces, we’d be destroyed in a second.
He’s miserable and carries the worst imaginable case of misery loving company, wanting nothing more
than to take us to hell with him.
In other words, you don’t want the devil to have any place in your life.
Then don’t choose to stay angry (hurt, frustrated, fearful).
Think of is as giving a blood thirsty, cannibal terrorist a place to campout in your living room.
My favorite translation of the term is “foothold” in the NIV.
Referring to the place given to the devil as a foothold makes me think of rock climbing.
It’s difficult for someone to hang from their hands for any length of time.
But if they get a foothold on which they can rest their weight, they can remain there indefinitely.
Then once their ready, they can start climbing again and move further up the rock face.
In much the same way, when we don’t deal with our hurt, frustration, or fear, we allow the devil to remain
where he is positioned.
And he will take every advantage available to him to advance his position in our lives.
If you return to anger when you run into the same issue, the devil has a foothold.
He’s hanging out in the same, ready to advance.
RC Sproul describes the danger in this way – “To have the sun go down while you are still angry means that
you take it to bed with you and the situation is not resolved. The anger is kept inside and it begins to
boil and seethe, perhaps turning into bitterness… We have all met people who manifest a spirit of
bitterness, or a spirit of hostility. They seem to be at war with the world. They walk around life with a
chip on their shoulder. They get cynical. They get sour in their interpersonal dealings with people. All of
these things can be the result of unresolved anger.”
Maybe you get triggered when governmental fraud pops up on the news.
Or it could be when your spouse challenges you about how much you’re eating.
It can be the fear that surges whenever you start thinking about your financial situation.
If you’re triggered, the devil has likely been sitting in the same position as before and simply waiting to
advance even more in your life through the matter.
So, here’s my recommendation for dealing with your anger keeping the devil from holding his ground.
Aside from pursuing reconciliation with those you might have a grievance with, the simplest way to start
dealing with your fear, frustration, and hurt is to talk to God about it.
It can sound like,
Lord, I’m worried about this situation.
Lord, I’m hurt by what they did to me.
Lord, I’m frustrated over the lack of progress in this area.
By doing so, you let God evict the devil from his place.
The third example of putting off, putting on and the reason for it should teach us -
3. REPLACE THEFT WITH HARD-EARNED GENEROSITY. (28)
* 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he
may have something to share with anyone in need.
Paul uses an example of a Christian moving from a past life of selfish, lazy taking to hardworking, generous
giving.
The term for steal in the Greek is κλέπτω, which we’re all pretty familiar with.
But this shouldn’t’ be limited to someone getting a “five-finger-discount.”
It actually means more “to pilfer,” which can take place little by little here and there.
Stealing arises out of coveting what others have and a laziness that refuse to work for oneself.
* but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands,
So it follows that repentance looks like replacing laziness with honest work and replacing greed with
generosity toward others.
The word for labor means strenuous work that produces fatigue.
It’s significant transformation that the person is putting in the extra time and effort, not for themselves but
so that they can be generous with those in need.
* so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
In their strenuous work, the former thief is pouring themselves out as an offering for the glory of God and
the good of others.
Our motive for earning shouldn’t be merely to have enough for ourselves and our own and then perhaps be
able to afford greater comforts and luxuries.
Our motive for putting in hard work should be able to meet other people’s needs.
Or as the NT Commentary says of such transformation – “Giving becomes the motive for getting.”
There was a man who built his livelihood on taking from others.
Not petty theft.
Not pilfering.
He trafficked human beings.
Before he ever wrote Amazing Grace, John Newton was a slave trader.
He commanded ships that transported enslaved Africans across the Atlantic.
He profited from human misery. He treated image-bearers of God as cargo.
He wasn’t just idle.
He was industrious.
But his industry was bent toward greed.
He worked hard — to take.
Then God interrupted his life.
In a violent storm at sea in 1748, Newton cried out to God for mercy.
That moment began the slow transformation of his soul.
It was not instant moral perfection — but it was decisive spiritual change.
Over time, the man who once profited from enslaving people became a pastor of a small church in Olney,
England.
He worked hard again.
But this time, not to take.
He labored in preaching.
He labored in shepherding.
He labored in caring for the poor.
He labored in writing hymns that would strengthen weak saints.
The same hands that once signed slave cargo documents now penned the words:
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me…”
Newton later became an ally to William Wilberforce and spent his latter years publicly opposing the slave
trade he once helped fuel.
Do you see the transformation?
He did not merely stop stealing lives.
He spent the rest of his life giving life.
That’s Ephesians 4:28.
“Let the thief steal no longer…”
That would have been a miracle if it stopped there.
“But rather let him labor… so that he may have something to share.”
Time after time I’ve seen and learned from different scenarios.
The First is one where a person prioritizes their comforts and wants.
They make sure they’re always driving a nice car;
they have their necessities and their play money set aside.
They just have to make sure and take a vacation at least once a year and pay to get their kids into the
best opportunity for being a professional athlete if that might be a possibility.
Once all these things are secure, they will give to the Lord’s work.
But then they start saying,
“Oh, but wait. We forgot about all of our streaming platforms for the shows we love.
And oh, our teen is going to need a car soon, and the insurance is going to skyrocket because of it.
And there’s another kind of insurance that my agent told me I should get – home title insurance I think.
Oh, and I really wanted to get one of those jelly-of-the-month subscriptions.
OK, now what do we have left over to give to God’s work?”
You might say, JD, this verse is talking about thieves, not those of us who just aren’t good with budgeting.
The prophet Malachi called this “robbing” God.
* Malachi 3:8–10 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’
In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of
you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to
the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a
blessing until there is no more need.
2. The second scenario of generous living looks like this.
The person or couple sits down and prayerfully asks the Lord, “How much of what you’re providing me do
you want to go to Your work.”
This person understands that it’s God’s money in the first place.
They arrive at an amount that right for them, a step of faith, and is going to even keep them from doing all
that they wanted to do with the funds God places in their care.
But they’re providing for the needs of others instead.
And they adjust to living on the rest.
Somehow, they don’t miss all the things that they would’ve thought they needed.
They trust God live by Jesus’ command,
* Matthew 6:33 seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added
to you.
God’s grace is meant to create generosity.
Lastly, we see the same pattern of put off, put on, and the result in respect to the words we use.
4. REPLACE FOUL TALK WITH UPBUILDING WORDS. (29)
* 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up,
The adjective here means spoiled, rotten, or putrid.
When we smell something rotten, we tend to say, “Oh, that’s foul!”
This term is where we get the term “foul language.”
We call it foul language because it’s rotten, and it corrupts those who hear it.
We see this with rotten produce in how it can corrupt other pieces of fruit.
Anyone knows that if you leave a bad apple in a bag, eventually you’ll have a bag of rotten apples.
Having put off this sort of influence with our words, we’re to pursue having the opposite influence.
* but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion,
The obvious picture is that our words are to make others stronger in their faith and not torn down.
Our words are to be those that build up our fellow believers.
Or words that attract unbelievers to Christ.
The phrase for “fits the occasion” means to “fill the need” or to provide what’s “necessary for the moment.”
Picture the person that isn’t living this out coming up to a friend who lost a loved one and saying,
“Sorry for your loss, and I’ve got a inapproptiate joke I heard from the guys at work that I think will cheer
you up.”
That doesn’t fit the need.
We’re told that words that always fit the need give grace to those that hear them.
* that it may give grace to those who hear.
It looks like bringing truth, encouragement, care, and even loving rebuke into the moment as needed.
Take note that this isn’t the just the ministry of a pastor to speak gracious words in the moment of need.
This is to be the job of every Christian.
Imagine visiting someone in the hospital.
One person walks in and starts sneezing and coughing, contaminating everything.
They look over at the person’s cup and says, “Oh, good. I need something to drink for my sore throat.”
Sadly, he then starts to talk, saying, “Wow, you look terrible.”
Or worse, he launches into a story about someone who died from the same condition.
Different than this first person, another person walks in and says very little.
They hold the patient’s hand.
They speak a quiet word of prayer.
They remind the person of Christ’s nearness.
Both spoke.
One contaminated and drained the room.
One strengthened it.
Words that “fit the occasion” means your words match the wound.
Just as the test of how we use God’s money is “How am I using it to help those in need?”
The test of our words isn’t simply, “Am I keeping my mouth from saying things I shouldn’t?”
The test should be “Are my words used to bring God’s favor to a person when they need it?”
Grace-filled speech asks, “What does this moment need?”
Correction?
Comfort?
Silence?
Hope?
It’s speech that supplies what the moment lacks.
Not speech that vents what I feel.
I’m sorry, but if you’re cussing Christian, you need to put that away from you.
And you need to fill your mouth with praise and maybe an apology to your family.
The old self takes. The new self gives.
The old self turns hurt, frustration, and fear into the devil’s playground.
But the new self let’s God evict His enemy from our lives by pouring his heart out to His caring Savior.
The old self corrupts. The new self builds.
Which self will you wear, the old or new?
If you don’t make any moves, it will be the old self and your relationships, mindset, and life will be worse
because of it.
If you choose to put off the old self and embrace the new through the power of the Holy Spirit, you will
truly be changed from the inside out.
