Garry spoke tonight from Ephesians 4:17-32 – live the Christian faith in spite of opposition. Paul is most emphatic in this section in urging Christians to live in a completely different way to how they used to live before they knew Christ. It is not an ‘optional extra’, as far as he is concerned, not the special concern of a select few, but a necessity for mature living. To even consider living as we used to is ridiculous in his eyes, rather like remaining at the crawling stage of a toddler when you could be running like Usain Bolt!
Non-Christians live a darkened existence, not understanding God’s purposes for their lives. They are cut off from God, having hardened their hearts. Paul reminds us of things associated with this way of life, including anger and rage, lies, stealing and bitterness of speech. He reminds us of how we should live – with new attitudes because we have a new self, speaking truthfully and building others up through our speech. We are called to be kind and compassionate and forgiving. To live otherwise is to give the enemy a foothold, to allow him to breach our defences and find ways to trip us up. Instead, we should put on the armour of God (Eph 6:10-20) so that we are equipped for the battle ahead.
To ‘live the life’ is what we are called to do. God gives us the knowledge, tools and help we need to do this, but we must understand and live by the truth of God’s word (however uncomfortable this makes us feel.) The bottom line is to not live as we did, it’s to live as we can. Let’s commit to this and keep that commitment and not allow that commitment to fade as we leave. There will be problems. There will be difficulties. There will be opposition. There will be times when it is so much easier to not bother. Casting Crowns spoke about being one thing in here and another thing outside. They sang about the change between in church and outside, or as they put it: between the altar and the door. In fact, who we are in church should be the same as who we are outside the building. We need to live the life God has given us.