Who Do You Say I AM?

5-31-24

I was reading Paul’s entire letter to the Ephesians and was praying again that God would teach me how to walk in the Spirit. I felt frustrated that when I read what Paul teaches it’s unclear to me how exactly to do it. I then ran across Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV1984 – “22 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; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Just prior to this Paul wrote “17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (Ephesians 4:17-19 NIV1984).

This is a part of what I’ve been missing! I can’t put off my old self and put on my new self until I am made new in the attitude of my mind! My old self is being corrupted with deceitful desires. My old self’s thinking is futility because it follows the wisdom of the world. That way of thinking darkens my understanding of God putting a veil between myself and God causing me to be separated from the life of God he wants to give me. It is my old self’s ignorance of who God truly is in true righteousness and holiness that causes me to be separated from the life of God he has for me. The whole issue of putting off the old self, being made new in the attitude of my mind, and putting on the new self centers on the hardening of my heart. When my heart is hard I lose all sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. I cannot walk in the Spirit when I’ve lost all sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. So, a hardened heart causes me to walk in the flesh (or my sinful nature). When I walk in the flesh all the desires of the flesh become heightened. To walk in the flesh is to give oneself over to please the senses (sensuality). This kind of living eventually leads to indulging in “every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.”

Key Issues:

1. Hardening of the heart causes

2. Futility of thinking which causes

3. Ignorance of God which causes

4. Darkened (veiled) understanding of God and the life of God which causes

5. Separation from the life of God which leads to

6. Loss of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit (for both salvation and living) leading to

7. Living by the senses (walking in the flesh and sensuality) which gives rise to

8. Indulging in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

Overcoming the Flesh and Walking in the Spirit:

1. Put off your old self by

2. Being made new in the attitude of my mind

3. Put on the new self by

4. Walking in righteousness and holiness

Being made new in the attitude of my mind is to gain the mind of Christ and to lose my corrupted worldly mind. It is moving from death to life. Multiple passages of scripture came to mind concerning being made new in the attitude of my mind:

1). Philippians 2:1-4 NIV1984

“1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love,
being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility
consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

2). Philippians 2:5-11 NIV1984

“5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

3). James 4:1-4 NIV1984

“1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasure. 4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

4). James 4:6-10 NIV1984

6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

5). Romans 12:1-2 NIV1984

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.

6). Romans 12:3 NIV1984

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”

Key Thoughts to Be Renewed in the Attitude of My Mind:

1. Be like-minded with my fellow believers,

2. Have the same love of Christ,

3. Be one in spirit and purpose.

4. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit,

5. In humility consider others better than myself

6. Look not only to my own interests, but also to the interests of others.

7. My attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

• a. make myself nothing (not demanding my “rights”)
• b. take on the very nature of a servant
• c. humble myself
• d. became obedient to death (deny myself, take up my cross, crucify my flesh, follow Him)

8. Obstacle to being made new in the attitude of my mind: fighting and quarreling, killing and coveting come from internal worldly desires that battle with the Spirit within me.

9. Obstacle to being made new in the attitude of my mind: I ask God amiss with wrong motives to spend what I get on myself.

10. Obstacle to being made new in the attitude of my mind: friendship with the world is enmity with God!

• a. The remedy (for #8-10): humble myself, submit myself to God,resist the devil
• b. The result: God will lift me up to walk in the Spirit

11. I should not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of my mind.

• a. Then I can test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will

12. I should not think of myself more highly than I ought, but rather think of myself with sober judgment – walk in humility according to the faith God has given me.

Doing these things are ways of walking in the Spirit and will help to renew the attitude of my mind.

Prayer

Father, I pray for the ability to take my thoughts captive to make them obedient to Christ, to no longer conform to the pattern of this world, to be transformed by the renewing of my mind and to be made new in the attitude of my mind.  As I put off my old self and put on the new self created to be like Christ please help me to walk in true righteousness and holiness that I might gain the mind of Christ and be pleasing to you. I ask these things in Jesus’ name.

Amen