Living the New Life – The Greatest Contrast of All! – October 12, 2025

Ezekiel 36:22-27, Ephesians 4:15-32
October 12, 2025

As I said the last few weeks, I’ve been giving you some “contrasts.”  And again, they’ve been contrasts between our faith and the ways of the world.  First, it was, “God’s plan for leadership – in a world consumed with power.”  Then, it was, “Finding the peace of God – in a troubled world.”  Then it was, “The power of humility – in a self-centered world.”  Then last week, on World Communion Sunday it was, “The Power of Unity – in a Divided World.”

Now this week, I’m giving you what I’m calling “The Greatest Contrast of All.”  And that is, the contrast between the life we are called to live as God’s people, and the life lived by other people in the world, or the life we may have lived before.  And there’s actually both of those elements here.

At the same time, I’m following up on last week’s scripture reading from Ephesians 4, which is a great chapter!  It’s one of my favorites!  In the beginning, Paul asked us – he begged us – to “live a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called.  With all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love.” (1:1-2)  I think those are familiar words to you.  And then, as I pointed out last week, he called us to be “Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

I think that’s a really good start to this!  And as I said last week, living those things, demonstrating them to the world, is so important!  The world needs to see us living the unity of the spirit.  Because that unity between people in our world is sadly missing!

And yes, a lot of what Paul says here is about our own peace and the peace we have with each other.  And it’s about our spiritual growth.  But it is always also about our witness to the world.  We live in a way that we hope people will say, “I want that kind of faith, too!”

So, as he goes on in this chapter, Paul gets more specific about how we do all of that.  And the sentence that jumps out at me here is in verse 15, where he says, “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head of the Church, into Christ.”  “That,” he says, “promotes growth in the body of Christ, and it upbuilds the Church in love.”  That’s great stuff!  “Speaking the truth in love” is a great phrase, one we can keep in our minds as we relate to others – inside the Church and outside of the Church.

Now at this point, I think Paul “changes hats.”  He changes from “Spiritual Paul” to “Practical Paul.”  Although he does mix those two things well!  He begins this next paragraph by saying, “You must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.”  Then he describes them.  “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of heart.”  Sadly, does that not describe people in our world today?  “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of heart.”

Paul then makes the comparison between that and the life we have in Christ.  And that’s what all of the contrasts I’ve given you so far are about.  They are all about “the greatest contrast,” which is the contrast between the way we live our life of faith, and the way others in the world live their lives.

Notice something, though.  He’s not just making that distinction between their faith and the ways of the world.  He’s also reminding them that they were once like that themselves.  So, he’s not just talking here about “the worldly and the spiritual.”  He’s talking about their “old nature and their new nature.”  I hope you heard that here.  In verse 22 he says, “Put off your old nature, which belongs to your former life, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

That’s quite a calling, isn’t it?  And that’s quite a contrast!  And that’s what we strive for, isn’t it?  That’s what our Christian life is about.  But it’s also something that we need to be reminded of – often!  Because we have to recognize that those two things – the old nature and our new nature – are in us, too!  And the old is constantly vying for our attention.  Because the world and its influences are all around us all the time!

Now sadly, some people, even in the Church, don’t recognize that.  Some even resist it.  They think – or they hope – that what faith calls them to do won’t affect the way they would prefer to live their lives.  They’d prefer this not to be such a great contrast!

In the early days of the church, there was a group of Christians called “Gnostics.”  (That’s “gnostic” with a silent “G.”)  Have you heard of them before?  Well, the Gnostics believed that “spiritual enlightenment” was the most important thing in our faith.  And they believed that what we did in our physical lives didn’t matter.  Those two things were separate.  And a lot of the writings of the Apostles in the New Testament were written in opposition to that philosophy.  The Apostles taught that spiritual and the physical are one.  “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  The spiritual and physical were one in Jesus.  And they are one in us, too.  We can’t separate them out like that!

The problem is that there’s a little bit of Gnosticism in all of us.  There are times we’d like not to be so concerned about the life our faith calls us to live.  There are times we’d rather not think about that “calling to which we have been called.”  Maybe that’s all just too much for us.  We’d just rather live our lives on our own terms.  There’s always that temptation in this life!

That’s the temptation Paul is pointing out clearly here.  And it’s the temptation he tells us we need to resist all the time.  He would tell us that we need to be sure we are “putting off our old nature and putting on the new.”  “Created after the likeness of God, in all righteousness and holiness.”

And the “Practical Paul” gave them some guidelines, some “exhortations” about how to do that.  And you can read through these again sometime.  “Put away falsehood.”  “Be angry but do not sin.”  “Give no opportunity to the devil.”  “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is good for edifying – or building up one another.”  “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit”  I love that one!  And then I love the ending.  “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.”

Those – and I’m sure many others – are outward signs of our new nature.  And our new nature should be different from the world!  And I know that’s not easy!  As Paul told the Romans, “Do not be conformed to this world.”  Or as one translation put it, “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.”  I’ve always loved that description.  Because that’s what will happen.  The world is constantly trying to squeeze us into its mold!

So think of this chapter, and all of Paul’s exhortations.  “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold” – or squeeze you back into its mold!  Instead, as he says here, “Be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Prayer

Eternal God, help us to do that every day.  Help us to put on the new nature, to be clothed in your righteousness.  Help us to speak the truth in love, and to be a beacon of hope to the world around us – the world that you so loved.  Give us the strength we need to be true followers of Jesus, our Lord.  For this we pray in his name, and for the sake of his kingdom, Amen.