Believers Live Differently

Have you ever gone through a change in your life that made you start living differently afterward? 

When I finished high school and went away to college, I had to live differently. 

When I started a new job after college, I had to live differently. 

When I got married. When I had children. 

Each of these changed how I lived, and it took work to live in each new situation.

Maybe you’ve gone through one of these… And whether you meant to or not, you started living differently, because your situation changed. 

There is an even bigger change than going away to college or starting a new job.

It's the change God makes in us, on the inside, when we become His son or daughter. 

And in light of everything God has done for us, how should we live differently?

Three things to consider:

• Why do believers live differently? 

• Putting off the old and putting on the new. 

• What all of this looks like in real life.

1. Why do we live differently?

Now that we belong to God, why bother changing how we live at all? Why not just keep walking the way we always did?

Why do believers live differently? Gratitude 

Ephesians 4:1

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

"vocation" means your calling. God is appealing to us; He’s inviting us to live in a way that matches who He called us to be. 

We live differently because of everything God already did for us. Ephesians chapters 1-3 says that God saved us, loved us, made us His own, and living differently is how we say thank you and show that Christ is in us. Living differently a response to what God has done for us.

Ephesians 1:1

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

"the faithful in Christ Jesus." It doesn’t say "the perfect in Christ Jesus." God calls us faithful. Faithful means we keep showing up and keep at it. It’s not a one-and-done thing. Living differently is every day, one day at a time.

Ephesians 2: 4 and 5

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us... hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

"quickened" means made alive. The reason we live differently is because of God’s mercy. His great love. His grace. Not our performance or our works.

So why do we live differently? gratitude.

Something already happened to us. God changed us on the inside because He loved us. Now our walk gets to catch up to who we already are.

2. Putting off the old and putting on the new

Ephesians 4:17

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

"walk" In Greek it's peripateō, per-ee-pat-EH-oh. It means to walk around, and all through the Bible it stands for how we live our daily life. Our walk. Where we go, how we carry ourselves, what we do when nobody's watching.

Verse 17 says the unbeliever walks in the "vanity" of his mind. Vanity means emptiness. 

Ephesians 4:18

Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

In verse 18, it says their understanding is darkened, and their heart is hardened. Hardened means a callus. Something rubbed so hard for so long that it stops being able to feel. That's what a life without God does to a heart over time. It stops feeling.

Ephesians 4:22-24

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

The word "conversation" means our behavior, our whole way of living.

We put off our old man behavior.

For example, I grew up in a family that did two things. 1. Yell and 2. Hold a grudge. That is my old man behavior.

"Put on." The Greek is endyō, en-DOO-oh. It means to clothe yourself, to array yourself in a garment. It’s the idea of sinking down into clothing.

After a workout, when you're sweaty and worn out, you take off those gross clothes, you shower, and you sink into something fresh and clean. And it feels so good. That's the picture. We take off the old-man clothes, that old worn-out way of living, and we sink into brand new clothing God made for us, made in righteousness and true holiness.

Verse 23: "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind." The new-man clothing is a renewed mind. 

Now, Everything we are going to read next comes from a mind that's been made new. The amplified version says, “And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude.

We are constantly renewing our minds to this way of living.

3. How do we live differently - what does this look like in our life?

Ephesians 4:25

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

We put away lying and speak truth. 

Ephesians 4:26 and 27

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.

Amp: When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down.

God says be angry. But this is being angry at what's wrong, at sin and injustice, without sinning in the process. 

And the practical wisdom here is don't let the sun go down upon your anger/your wrath. Deal with it as fast as you can. Don't let it sit overnight and turn into resentment. 

Handling things quickly gives the devil no space to work (vs 27). That phrase "give place" means give him an opening. The amplified bible says: Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him]. 

Ephesians 4:28 

Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Verse 28 is about work. If someone stole, stop, and start working instead. But look at why. "that he may have to give to him that needeth." We don't just work to get. We work so we've got enough to give. I love that

Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

The Amplified Bible says, Let no corrupt communication ever come out of your mouth

"Corrupt" is sapros, sap-ROS. It means rotten, bad, worthless, the same word you'd use for spoiled fruit. So don't let rotten words come out of you. Instead speak what edifies, what builds people up. 

There are only two things our words can do, build up or tear down. And once a word is out, we can't put it back. It’s either going to bless somebody or hurt them. So we choose our words carefully.  

Ephesians 4:30

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

"Grieve not the holy Spirit of God." "Grieve" is lypeō, loo-PEH-oh, to cause sorrow, to distress. After all God has done for us, we don’t want to cause Him sorrow. 

Ephesians 4:31

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

We clear out the old stuff.

Put away all of it. Look at that word "all." According to God's Word here, there is never a good reason to stay bitter. No matter what somebody does to us, deal with it accordingly and then God says set it go.

Ephesians 4:32

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

"Kind" is chrēstos, KHRAY-stos, good and gentle, actively kind even when the other person hasn't earned it. "Tenderhearted" is eusplanchnos, yoo-SPLANGKH-nos, compassionate, soft toward people. And "forgiving" is charizomai, khar-ID-zom-ahee, and it comes from the word grace. 

So forgiving here isn't gritting your teeth. It's giving someone grace, the same grace God gave us.

Forgive. We forgive even as God, for Christ's sake, forgave us. We forgive because God forgave us.

A problem with a roommate, a group chat blowup, the friend who ghosted you- from what we just learned here, we handle any conflict quickly in the best way we know how and then forgive and move on. We take the high road.

In conclusion: when we were born again, God changed us on the inside because He loved us. And living differently is how we say thank you and live for Him.

Every day we choose to live for God. Take off the old clothes, the lying, the bitterness, the rotten words. And sink into the new ones God made for us: kindness, a tender heart, and grace that forgives.

It takes work, daily effort, and a renewed mind. But we’re not doing it to earn anything. We’re doing it because of who we already are. God's kid.

God calls us faithful, not perfect. So we keep at it. If we mess up, there’s no condemnation (if we need to apologize - we do - I have more times than I can count). We stay faithful and keep moving.

So this week I encourage you to choose one of the new things we went over and practice it.  Put on the new mind and enjoy living differently as God's children.

God bless you. You are the best!