Revealing the person God intended you to be is as straightforward as embracing the transformative work He has already achieved. That’s essentially what Paul outlines in Ephesians 4 as part of his exhortation toward living the Christian life. He even uses the imagery of changing clothes in his encouragement to “put off the old self” in exchange for the opportunity to “put on the new self.”
Last weekend I spoke on this passage in Ephesians 4 and found verses 22-24 to be particularly worthy of reflection:
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 self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24
In complex terms verses 22 and 24 use the aorist tense, meaning they are highlighting a past action. Whereas verse 23 uses the present infinitive tense, meaning it is ongoing and continuous.
In simple terms, the putting off the old self and the putting on the new self is something that has already been accomplished through the work of Christ (aorist). Whereas, the being made new is something happening and pursued now (present infinitive). What makes that significant? Here’s John Stott’s summary of these 3 verses:
“In a word, recreation (what God does) and repentance (what we do by his grace) belong together and cannot be separated.”
This clothing imagery in Ephesians 4 even extends into Romans 13, where Paul’s encouragement is to “clothe yourselves with Christ.”
To embrace what has been accomplished by Christ, you have to orient your life around it.
God’s greatest act of love is to lift you to a place you could not get to on your own but to embrace this as past tense fact alone falls short of its power. Instead, we fall back toward living into “the old self.”
To shed the “old self” while embracing the new is a work of God. 2nd Corinthians 5 says, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2nd Corinthians 5:17). But don’t miss the very next verse. It says, “All this is from God.” Meaning that the new creation that has come is not your work but God’s. He brings new life, He recreates.
But this work of God comes only through turning away from the “old self” to open yourself to the work only God can do (new birth).
When it comes to relating with God quite often in my interactions with others they highlight their shortcomings. They don’t read the Bible enough. They don’t pray enough. They don’t know enough about theology. They sin. They fall short, in a variety of ways. In Ephesians 4 language, they are well aware of the old self they often put on.
Quite often Christian teachers and pastors (me included!) amplify these shortcomings, as a way to push people toward Christ—“you are a sinner in need of God’s grace.” But at times, what people need is not their shortcomings highlighted, but rather, the love bestowed on them in Christ, like Psalm 139 does so beautifully:
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14).
Seen here is quite the contrast: the way people often view themselves and the way God sees them are often miles apart. Could it be that part of the impact of the fall is that even those in Christ have a propensity to live into the old self?
Francis Schaeffer invites us to consider how to heal from the sinful impact of the fall:
“We should be looking now, on the basis of the work of Christ, for substantial healing in every area affected by the fall…Man was divided from God first; and then, ever since the fall, man is separated from himself” (Schaeffer, Pollution and the Death of Man).
An explanation of Genesis 3 always focuses on mankind’s separation from God by living outside of His design. But less often does this separation highlight mankind’s separation within himself or herself. This disintegration between the life they live and the life they know is possible is often evident in people, even those who proclaim faith in Christ.
Many wear this disintegration with shame and because of it pursue religion to prove themselves. Without embracing God’s intricate care and value they turn toward a checklist spirituality that helps prove their worthiness to God, all in an attempt to create an internal value that they already had.
This separation people feel within themselves is merely a misunderstanding of what story to live into. You can live into the story of your sin or you can live into the story of your created design. Both of these stories have truth and both lead to quite separate outcomes. The story of sin draws your life in on itself, whereas the story of God’s created design points you to the greater purpose of your life.
CS Lewis describes this well:
“Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”
Last summer I tried to convince my wife that we should stop watching the FX television show The Bear a few episodes into the first season. Too much language. Too chaotic. Somehow she won that discussion and I’m glad she did because season two, episode seven titled “Forks” is the best episode I’ve watched in several years. I would place it on par with The Crown’s “Moondust” episode, which is high praise.
The episode itself follows Richie as he takes a temporary job at the highest-rated restaurant in town, in preparation for being on the team for a high-end restaurant he’s helping open soon.
The problem is Richie is self-loathing and defeatist who cares little for himself or those around him. And sure enough, he takes that same attitude and indifferent effort into the new job of shining forks. Yes, shining forks (remember, this is the best restaurant in town). But this time, he’s confronted about his attitude, by longtime restaurant worker, Garrett:
Garrett: “Do you think this is below you or something?”
Richie: “Man, I’m 45 years old, polishing forks.”
In other words, he’s a failure, doing the sort of menial tasks that deserve little effort. This is Richie’s approach to life and Garrett sees it in every task and every conversation with Richie. He concludes the conversation with this exhortation to Richie:
“I need you to respect yourself.”
You can watch that scene down below:
From that moment forward, something changes with Richie. His countenance, his ambition, his care for others—a new person emerges, a Richie who thrives at the temp job, quickly moving up to become a server, all because he began to respect himself and the work he had been given.
Eventually, the temp job at the restaurant ends and he heads back to the team at his newly opening restaurant. But he’s a different Richie now. He’s living into a different story. And it’s all summarized in four words when a co-worker asks about his attire:
“I wear suits now.”
As part of respecting himself and his work, Richie started wearing suits at his temp job and he decided to continue doing it even when going back to his old job. It was his way of respecting himself and the work he was doing. New clothes = new Richie.
This is exactly what Ephesians 4 is highlighting: revealing the person God intended you to be is simply embracing the transformative work He has already achieved. You do not earn the transformative work of God, but you are invited to live into it.
In Jesus, you can share in all that He receives through His position and sacrifice. You will learn of God's love for you and experience His intimate care because Jesus accomplished that position for you.
What is true of Christ becomes true of you, so put on the clothes of Christ that were purchased for you—live into the better story.
John Stott’s summary of Ephesians 4 concludes this better than I can:
“When we change our role, we change our dress.”