Put On the New Self

In this message from Ephesians 4:17–32, Pastor Jim shifts from identity to behavior, showing how a transformed life in Christ leads to transformed actions. He contrasts the “old self,” marked by futility, selfishness, and deceitful desires, with the “new self,” rooted in truth, awareness, and life in Jesus. The old way of living promises satisfaction but ultimately leads to emptiness, while the new way invites believers to actively put off harmful patterns and put on Christlike character through the renewal of the mind. This renewal is both a spiritual and intentional process, requiring daily decisions to reject falsehood and embrace truth. As believers grow in this new identity, their lives begin to reflect generosity, honesty, encouragement, and compassion. Pastor Jim emphasizes that this transformation is not just personal but communal. The new self builds up the body of Christ through truthful speech, generous action, and grace-filled words that strengthen others. Ultimately, this passage calls believers to live with intentional awareness, choosing obedience over old habits and displaying the character of Jesus in everyday life.

Transcript

Ryan: All right. As you find your seats, today's passage from Ephesians will be found in Ephesians 4, 17 through 32. And it reads as this.
So I tell you this and insisted on the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from a life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they've given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity. And they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off the 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. Therefore, each of you must put off all falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor. For we are all members of one body. In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with their own hands that they may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up others according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger. Crawling in slander. Along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate. To one another, forgiving each other, Just As in Christ, God forgave you. This is the Lord's word for you today.
Pastor Jim: I think it was probably when I was in about fourth grade Which seems too old for the type of party this was, but I got invited to a sleepover party at Woody Wells' house. I'm naming names. Hopefully he doesn't watch this sermon. Woody Wells had a train themed party. I think his dad was like an engineer or something like legit. And Woody was obsessed with trains. And I remember thinking in fourth grade, like, I'm too old for this, but I think my mom probably made me go. 
So we go to this party and... One of the Parts that I remember most vividly was there was a pinata And it was promptly destroyed by five elementary boys And we all were, you know, hoarding candy. And my other friend, Ryan Blackman, who again, if he watches this, he'll be embarrassed, but Ryan Blackman, Went to town on the candy. Just devoured it and I'm like, All right, bro. 
Like, calm down. Just ate every bit of candy he could get his hands on, which you know the end result of this. Ryan Blackman was terribly ill. Sick to his stomach, his mom had to be called in the middle of the night to come get him. And I will never forget this. His mom showed up and said, I never let him have candies. And he knew it. And he went for it. 
I mean, this was his one opportunity. He was going to get candy and get all of the candy. What probably began as like, Innocent ignorance on his part? That he was allowed to have this and he's just indulging in this eventually became willful ignorance. That he just kept going. And his body was telling him, Slow down. He did not. He kept going until he needed to be removed from the party, right, and brought home. He was ignoring the truth of the situation. Today what we see in Ephesians 4 is Paul is making the switch now From Identity to Behavior And he's talking about how if this is who we are in Christ... Here's the behavior that is expected. Here's the behavior that flows out of it. But one more time, he puts in a reminder. To not be like you used to be. And here's what's interesting about this. He says, don't be like the Gentiles anymore. But you've got to remember, he's giving these words to a church. To a group of people who would say that they were already Jesus followers. And he's basically presenting them with options, choices that need to be made. To say, "You used to be like that, so don't choose that anymore. Put that off, but put this on." And he's laying out for them a brief couple of thoughts here about how They used to be accidentally ignorant? He's saying, You're no longer accidentally ignorant. Your eyes have been opened. 
So now don't be willfully ignorant, which leads to unhealth, which leads to brokenness in the church, in the body. He says, you know, these Gentiles and the way that they, the way that you used to think in your old self was incredibly selfish and greedy and self-obsessed and only serving self. He says, They were accidentally ignorant, but it became willful ignorance. He says, but you. You can be intentionally aware. Jesus follower. You can be intentionally aware and have your hearts increasingly softened and put on the new self. Which is about others and building them up and about health and about being one in Jesus like he's been talking about so far. And all of this is because of what Jesus has done. We don't have to, but we get to. We get to live into the new self. We get to put off the old self by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can change. We can be like the truly human body that Jesus has made us to be, representing him to the world. And so as we move through this today, I'm going to try to do this quickly. There's a lot of content here. It's 15 verses. I'm going to try to blast through it. 
So Hold on. If you take notes, you might have to write fast. I'm sorry, but we're going to cover three things today. That the old self lives in falsehood, The new self lives in truth and the new self builds up. The old self lives in falsehood, the new self lives in truth, and the new self builds up. All right. 
So I want to pray for this. Just pray that Jesus would speak through this. 
So bow your heads with me and pray one more time. Jesus, you have saved us. You have called us to be the body. You've transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. And yet we still have decisions to make on a minute by minute basis. To live with you as Lord of our lives. To put off the old self and to put on the new, to be made new in our minds. And so I ask that you would... Begin that process even now for some folks that you would renew that process for all of us. That we would wake up and see what there is to see. Speak to us through what Paul wrote to this church all those years ago. Bring it home to our hearts, Holy Spirit. And I pray that we would be a body of people who are consciously aware Putting off the old and putting on the new, like a new set of clothing. Every day, putting it back on, remembering who we are in you. And that the end result would be a body of people who are living holy, righteous lives. For our good and for your glory. Pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen. 
So. The old self walks in lies. Walks in falsehood, walks in "Futility of thinking," he says. He's saying, remember, you used to be unsaved, unborn again, not yet Jesus followers, when you were living in the Gentile way of life, and it was a futile way of thinking. And so, you know, when something is futile, when it has futility to it means what? That it's empty? That it's not going to produce the result that you wanted to produce and You know, resistance is futile. 
You know what I mean? Like, it's not going to win, right? It's not going to produce life, is what he's saying. And he's saying that's the way the Gentile mind works, and that's the way your old self used to think, was in a futile way of thinking. That wasn't going to produce anything good. It was meaningless. It was not going to lead you to a holy life, to a righteous life, to life that is in God. 
So much so that he says, in that futile way of thinking, they were darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God. So can you hear what he's saying? Feudal thinking leads to darkened thinking leads to being separated from the life that is in God. That's the old way. That's the way things used to be for you when you were living in that old way before Jesus opened your eyes. And I read one woman, she's a theologian, and she says in her commentary, it's endlessly striving and never arriving. Forever searching and never finding. And I thought, man, that is what the old self was all about. Always searching, but never actually finding it. Always digging, but never finding the treasure. Always wandering around, but never finding home. That's being separated from the life of God. And Paul's saying, that's the way you used to be. That's what the old self was like. And in that world, in that way of thinking, self becomes God. There is no God out there to be found. I am God. I am the one who's in charge. Everything is all about me, and selfishness rules the day. He says it's full of impurity and full of greed. Boiled down, the old self takes. The old self takes and takes. It's all about itself, all about his or her self. And getting everything they can and experience everything they can and feeling everything they can. And he says, the more you lead into that and lean into that sensuality, that way of living, of just giving yourself over to these things, the selfishness, the harder your heart becomes. And that, accidental or just innocent ignorance, becomes more and more willful. And your heart hardens up as you continue to lead in more and more into self. And the harder your heart becomes, you give yourself over more and more to God. Selfishness, to greed, to impurity. The word there that he actually uses for that is you cast off all feelings. You cast off all feeling. And so, Again, what Paul is trying to say here, if you read into it, is what he's saying is as you give yourself more and more to sensuality, you actually cast off all feeling. You feel less and less. You become more and more hardened in your heart, more and more selfish. And friends, Do you know this about yourself? Do you remember this about yourself? Can you see this in our world? That the more and more we lean into our sensuality and the more and more we try to feel things, the more and more hardened our hearts become, the more selfish they become. Because accidental... Ignorance eventually becomes willful. Ignorance. God allows us to turn our hearts over. He allows them to be hardened. What started out as an innocence becomes willful ignorance, willfully throwing off all feeling. Eating candy until we're sick. And not caring and just doing it again and again like a dog returns to its vomit, just going after it more and more. Friends, this is the old way. He's saying, don't do that anymore. That's the old self. And it leads to just living in more and more falsehood, futility, fantasy, just thinking you're going to produce something that's never going to be produced, total selfishness. Because the old self takes. The old self isolates. Becomes more and more about One person, one God, me at all costs. Turning itself over to these things more. And Paul says, You were rescued out of that. Don't live in that way anymore. He's basically presenting to them, again, if you pick up on this, what he's presenting is there's a choice to be made. He's saying you have been saved. You are in Jesus. Don't live that way anymore. 
You see it? That's a choice. There's decisions that need to be made. On a daily, minute-by-minute basis to say, "Okay, old self, I don't want that anymore." I'm going to live into this new self that has been purchased for me, this new identity that has been given to me to live in the light. To live in the kingdom of Jesus. And so the old self walks in futility. The old self walks in falsehood, in fantasy, in lies. But the new self walks in truth. Again, he's positioning these two thoughts against each other here. The new self walks in truth. He gets to that section, that next couple of verses, I believe it starts in verse 20. And he says, however, This is not the way of life you learned. It's not the way of life you've learned. You have learned a new thing. That used to be the old way, but you have learned a new thing. It's the opposite of what he just said. He said, so I insist on it that you no longer walk in the way that you used to. Walk in the way that you used to. That you've learned The truth in Jesus, the truth that is in Jesus. Walk in the Jesus way. And again, he's using Old Testament language here. There's two different ways to walk, two different paths to be on. And he says, you've been set onto this path. Don't go back to that other one. You've been walking on this path with Jesus. Don't try to get off it and walk on this path over here in the way of the Gentile thinking. You have learned. You have heard, you have been taught in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You... It's no longer ignorant falsehood. Your eyes have been opened, he's saying. You have been awakened. You have been told the truth. You can no longer claim, I don't know. He said, I've shown you Jesus. I have taught you the way of Jesus. I've shown you the life and the truth and the warmth and the love that are in Jesus. You have been rescued. You can no longer say, well, I didn't know. 
So I journeyed over here. I'm going to walk in this way. He's saying, no. You are on the way of Jesus. I've shown this to you. You have learned it. And so, Friends, again, Jesus followers in the room, those of you who might not be, can I just call you again to repent and believe, repent of the selfish way, the old way, and believe in the new way that Jesus has offered for you, for us, what Christ has done for us. Believe it. We can take on the new self. And be like God, he says in the previous passage, growing in holiness, in righteousness, in life. We can take on the new self and be like God. Why? Because Jesus came into our midst and took on flesh and showed us the way to the Father. He put on the sins of our old selves. He put them onto him, onto his perfect self. He had a soft heart. He had a soft heart to the will of the father and said, I'll go where you want me to go. All the way to the point of death on a cross. I will do that because I believe you, because I love you. He was separated from the life of God. 
So that we didn't have to be. You see it? Paul's saying, that's what you've been purchased and bought into. He intentionally obeyed the father to the point of death on a cross. He was broken open for us. 
So that we could feast on him and find life there in his body and his blood and his forgiveness. And though he lived in perfect heaven, he was unselfish. And came down to this earth for your sake and for mine. He died for his body, the church, so that it could be made whole in God. And though our hearts were darkened, He enlightened us by His Holy Spirit. No longer ignorant. Seeing things as they are. Seeing ourselves for what we are. Seeing Him for who He is. Enlightening us by His Spirit of Truth. And so by that same spirit, he says, "I'm making you a family." I'm making you the masterpiece that we've been talking about through this whole series. I'm making you so that you can be put on display for the glory of God. This is the new self walking in truth. 
So there's a decision to be made. Will we repent and believe that Jesus has done this for us and called us into this new way of living? Or will we continue to rebel against that in the old feudal, meaningless way of thinking? Will we walk in obedience or walk in disobedience? Again, he says, your eyes have been opened. Daily decisions need to be made. Lordship is something that happens minute by minute in our lives, that he has given us the power of his spirit to make decisions, to choose accordingly. 
So he says, "...put off the old self and its deceitful desires." "...put off the old self and its deceitful desires." Can I ask you a question? How are desires deceitful. Have you thought about this? Put off deceitful desires. How is it that a desire can be deceitful. What does it mean to be deceitful? Doesn't tell the truth, right? It lies. Friends. In our cultural moment, We are told that your desires... Your wants. Your needs, your feelings, your sensuality, your senses, they are kings. And they tell the truth and you better lean into them. And Paul's saying, I'm calling you to put off the old self and its deceitful desires. Because desires, friends, they lie. They over-promise and they under-deliver. All the time. Our desires, again, desires are not bad. They're not in themselves evil. But when we start to see them as God, They over-promise and they under-deliver. God has made us I feel, I need to say this now. I feel like I've set this up too hard. Bodies are good. We were made to be physical creatures. We have desires. They're holy. They're good, okay? But when we lean into them as God and don't recognize that sometimes they are deceiving, sometimes they are lying, then we stumble into sin. See, desire is not sinful. It's when we give into it. That it becomes sinful, right? Okay, that's a whole separate thing about, okay. Physicality, not bad. But desires can be deceiving. They over-promise and under-deliver on a regular basis. 
So think about this with me. There's three basic examples. Here's the desire. Eat that ice cream or buy those clothes to comfort yourself. Eat that thing. Lean into that. Indulge. Buy that thing. 
You know, the retail therapy. Comfort yourself. But what does it eventually lead to? Guilt. Feeling bad about yourself, emptiness. Loneliness. Look at porn to feel better. Over-promise, under-deliver. Because it leads to what? Guilt? Shame. Addiction. Broken relationships, Yell and rage so that you feel strong. Over-promise, under-deliver. Every time. Leads to broken relationships, leads to guilt. 
So what I mean, just because you have that desire doesn't mean it's good. Paul says it's deceitful, it's deceiving, it's a liar. And he says the old self would lean into that, but your eyes have been opened, so put that off. Don't believe them anymore. Paul says, you've seen the truth in Jesus, so put off that old way that leads to death. He says in multiple different ways in his letters. He says, so put off that old way and put on the new, be made new in the attitude of your mind. Do you see how? Deceitful desires. That's a. It's an internal thing, right? Be made new in the attitude of your mind. Internal. Right. There's internal things happening here. There's a spiritual side to this, right? Be made new in the attitude of your mind. The attitude there is really the word for spirit. Be made new in the way that your mind thinks. Be made new in like the practices that your mind keeps in the way that it goes about its daily rhythms. Be made new in that place. Be made new in the spirit of your mind, the way that you think. What he's saying is to be intentionally aware of the truth. Be intentionally aware of the truth in Jesus, to intentionally think differently. Friends, again, we are not captives to our mind. Our minds have plasticity to them. Because of the Spirit of God at work in our lives in being saved as Jesus followers, we have the ability to tell our minds, no. I'm not going to believe that anymore. I'm not going to think that anymore. I'm going to change the way that I think about that. I'm going to change the spirit of my mind. Again, Holy Spirit empowered. Human Will-powered at the same time. To say, I'm going to be intentionally aware of the truth that is in Jesus. To tell ourselves a different narrative. Tell ourselves of who we actually are as people of God. To remind ourselves of this. To confront the deceitful desires with what? Truth. With gospel truth. This is how we change, friends. Telling ourselves Ice cream and clothing will not actually comfort me for the long haul. Time with Jesus will. Porn will not truly make me feel better. Time with Jesus will. Now, listen. When is the best time to practice escaping a house that's on fire? When it's on fire? Beforehand, right? You do the fire drills at school when there isn't an actual fire. Why? Because when the fire ensues, there's a little bit of chaos that goes along with that. The desperation, the fear, all that's going on. And so it's the same thing with telling our minds to think differently. 
So the best time to face this, to be made new in the attitudes of our minds, is probably not The first time you're encountering the freezer with the ice cream in it. You see what I'm saying? It's probably best to maybe start your day there on a regular basis. If you know that this is a habitual problem for you know that you do this thing. It's starting the day with Jesus saying, okay. 
You know, I'm going to tell myself right now, I'm going to remind myself right now of my new self, of my identity, of who I am in Jesus and who I am as a person that doesn't need ice cream to feel better. I need Jesus to feel better. 
So that later in the day, when that ice cream's calling you, you're going to remember this. You see what I'm saying? You're thinking, you're trying to train your brain to think differently. 
So whether it's ice cream, clothing, pornography, yelling, raging, greed, whatever it is, Away from the fire, practice the fire drill. So the one that you're in the moment. And that fire is raging. You're crying out to God. God, help me remember the things that we've talked about. Help me remember the identity that you've given me. Make me new in the attitude of mine in this moment. 
And then you run. Resist the devil and he will flee from you, James says. We run when we encounter temptations like this, because we remember desires are deceitful, often trying to drag us down into death. Just think of that song, Lord, I Need You. Where I am... Or where you are, I am free. Holiness is Christ in me. You can't just be holy. Be more of Jesus. 
So begging him, calling him, asking him to come into you in those moments to say, help me later when I know that I'm going to face this temptation that I always face. Make me new in the attitude of my mind. Make me intentionally aware. And as we grow more intentionally aware, it softens our hearts. It gives us long-term thinking. See, desires, deceitful desires, short-term thinking, very short-term thinking. When we become aware and more intentionally aware and it softens our hearts, it gives us longer term thinking. It produces wisdom. That says, I'm going to choose out of this. I'm not going to choose this way. I'm going to not walk in the way of the old self. I'm going to walk in the way of the new self that Christ has purchased for me. And we pray. Put on the new self, he says. Put on the new self. And what's interesting is when he talks about putting on the new self, so he's put off the old self, be made new in the attitude of your mind, put on the new self. When he starts to talk about putting on the new self, it starts to lean into practices of obedience. That's what the last section of that whole passage is about, is like the outflow of what the new self produces. And so the old self wanted to walk in disobedience to God. The new self wants to walk in obedience to God, into the things that he's called us to, walking in line with the way of Jesus. Finding truth, finding life in God rather than trying to find it someplace else. The softer your heart becomes to God, the more you give yourself to him. And the more you give yourself to him, the more your identity is formed in him. And the more your identity is formed in him, the more your mind is changed. The more your mind is changed, the more you walk in obedience. It becomes this cyclical thing, like a flywheel that starts to spin. And as you get older and wiser, it just keeps going more and more. 
So we put on the new self. This intentional awareness eventually becomes behavior. Now look, some of you Praise God, you got saved and it was like, boom, a flip was swift, you know, a switch was flipped and you were just changed. You were just changed overnight and you're like that old habit gone. Praise God. That happens, and I ask you, beg for it. But for most of us, with most things, we find that it's a journey. It's a journey of sanctification. It's a journey of being changed. It's a journey of turning ourselves over to God, making ourselves more aware, softening our hearts over time. And can I just tell you guys, God's not mad at you. He's not disappointed that you haven't gotten it all right yet. He's not. He says, come on. Try again. Walk with me. I've saved you from that. You don't need to do that anymore. You don't need to do that anymore. I've given you a new identity. You don't need to pick that ice cream anymore. You don't need the retail therapy. You don't need the pornography. You don't need the yelling and the screaming. You don't need the greed. Come with me. Come with me. Walk obedient with me. I've given you a new life, a new heart, a new mind, new eyes to see, new ears to hear. Come with me. Come with me. This intentional awareness eventually becomes willful behavior. Friends, we have been reborn to be the truly human. Christ. To be like God. In true righteousness, walking in holiness, faithful, pure, set apart, truth loving. Being kind, being gracious, And so he says, put that on. 
Sometimes you just got to choose it and then it reforms your mind. Sometimes you reform your mind and you're able to choose this, but intentionally aware, choosing into this obedience, putting on the new self. 
So what he goes on to say is that new self builds up the body. If the old self lived in falsehood and futility and fantasy and tore down, and was selfish It was only about self. The new self becomes about the body, becomes about others, becomes about building others up. 
So I'm going to read, I'm going to start at verse 28. And just kind of read through what he says here. You know, anyone who's been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with their own hands that they may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen and do not grieve the Holy spirit of God. With whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 
So he's listing these behaviors. He's listing these behaviors, talking about, you know, building up the body, speaking in truth, not stealing, using words to build others up rather than bring others down. And he says, and all of that. Doesn't allow the devil to have a foothold, doesn't grieve the spirit, it actually pleases the spirit. And who is the spirit? What has the spirit been doing in this entire letter up to this point? Bringing us together. Making us one new body. And he says, so when we flow out of our identity in Christ and start doing these behaviors, it pleases the spirit. The spirit says, yes, this is what I've been after is you guys being one in love for one another, living out your lives and holiness and righteousness towards one another and building one another up. Because again, the old self takes, but the new self builds up. Delights the spirit. 
So I just want to talk about a couple things that he's talking about. These behaviors that flow out of this. One is building up the body in truth. Building up the body in truth, putting off falsehood and speaking truthfully because we are all one body. Basically, he's saying, don't lie to one another. Speak truthfully to one another because when you lie to one another, you're actually lying to yourself. You're bringing harm to you as well in not being truthful. And so, As I contemplated this and thought about this, I think for the majority of us, we would probably say, good, I'm not a liar. And we would like check that off in our minds. I don't lie. Therefore, thank you, Paul. I'm good. 
Well, can I challenge you to think a little differently? Deeper about that. And actually become people who speak truthfully. Not just not lying. But people because of your identity who speak truthfully. And this will lead to a few different things. The first would be confession. Being able to speak to one another in such a way, knowing who we are in our identity, knowing who this brother or sister is in Christ, and being able to say, you know what? I have a problem with X. And I need your prayers. I mess this up. I need your help. That would be speaking truthfully. Or it means having healthy boundaries. Be able to say, I'm unwilling to do that. See, that would be being honest. Wouldn't it? Now, I'm not saying we don't serve one another. I'm not saying we don't have to self-sacrifice sometimes. But there are other times when we are called as Jesus followers to not just be a doormat and to have a boundary. No is a complete sentence. We are allowed to be truthful in that way. And someone is allowed to be truthful in response. And to say, but I would still like you to. See, it's not black and white. It's not so clear, right? But in speaking truthfully to one another, we have integrity. We have honesty. We reflect the oneness that we have been called to. And having healthy anger and confrontation, he says. Deal with your anger healthfully and quickly. Don't let the devil drive you apart. Deal with it. Go to somebody. Say, hey, here's what I'm struggling with this. Or as Christians, have some thick skin and just get over it. These are our options. These are the options as Jesus followers. This is what he's calling us to. Get rid of bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling, slander, and malice. In honesty, we go to one another and we say, "Here's what I'm struggling with. Here's this thing that's bothering me. Can you help me understand this?" Right? Second thing is this building up the body in generosity. Building up the body in generosity. He says, don't, those who've been stealing, stop it. If you've been stealing, stop. Start working with your hands, make some money. 
So what? So you can give to the body. 
So you can give to those who are in need. Do you see what he's saying? Stop taking and build up. Stop lying, speak truth and build up. Being generous to others, contributing to the needs of the body. The third thing, building up the body with our words. He says, do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth. The word for unwholesome there is like rotten fruit. You ever have a bowl of fruit sitting there and you have one plum that goes bad? It just starts to mush, kind of all over everything else. Gets all nasty. An apple that goes bad, that brown rot starts to kind of taint everything else as well. One banana goes bad, they're all going bad. Paul's saying, don't let that kind of speech come out of your mouth. But again, he doesn't just stick to the negative. He moves to the positive. He says, only what is useful for what? Building up. Giving grace to someone in their time of need. Can I tell you, friends, if there is an area where I struggle, it's this one. I am a Gen X cynic. And it is so easy for me to be jaded and just bleh. Just... Just... Cynicism comes out of me. I'm like, yeah, well, this is the way it's always been. , It just comes out of me. And I have to constantly tell myself, only what is useful for building others up. Because of Jesus, I'm okay. I'm loved. I'm secure. I'm significant. He loves me. I'm good. Therefore, the situation is okay. I can either shut my mouth or say what's useful for building others up. Because if I don't, I'm like that rotten plum. Starts to rub off on everything else. It starts to have an "" feeling to it. Starts to impact the fruit of the entire basket, right? And so he's saying, I'm calling you friends. I'm calling you Jesus followers. To remember who you are in Christ, to be renewed in the attitudes of your minds, put on the new self, and speak wholesome. Speak in ways that build people up in their time of need and bring grace to people. Beneficial, that it may benefit those who listen. Again, not for your own gain. My unhelpful talk is often for my own gain because I think it's funny. But it doesn't build anybody else up. Leaves everybody else feeling. 
So Paul's saying, don't do that. Lean into the new self, not the old self. The old way would do that. And again, I'll say this, it's easier to do this if you've been intentionally living aware of the new narrative. You've been intentionally fueling this in your brain that I have been made new, that I'm part of a new thing, that Jesus has saved me, put me on a new path. It makes it easier when that moment comes where you need to be generous instead of greedy. Makes it easier in that moment when you're trying to think, I probably shouldn't say that. I should probably just shut my mouth. And just listen. Makes it easier when we're trying to resist sin. If you've been living in the narrative on a daily basis. Minute by minute. And so he says, he closes with saying, and so be kind to one another. Be compassionate with one another. Friends, how much does our world need compassion? He's saying, church, you ought to excel at this. Being kind, compassionate, forgiving, Why? Because we just want to be nice people? No. Because we were the wretches who have been forgiven by Christ first. And so if we have tasted his forgiveness, we offer compassion and forgiveness to our brothers and sisters and say, I know. I know. I know the journey you're on. I'm on it too. Being kind and compassionate, using our words to forgive. And so... 
Some of us are still living like that kid at the party, Ryan Blackman. Yeah. Living for today. Living for the moment, living with our deceitful desires. We keep going back for more, even though it's making us sick. At first it was accidental, but now, friends, we know. You've heard the gospel today. We know. And Paul is saying, now that you know, don't keep living that way. You've learned Christ. You've heard him. You have been taught the truth that is in Jesus. 
So. This week, Today, the next few hours Put off the lie. Be renewed in your mind by the truth of the gospel. Put on the new self, because the old self takes and leads to death. The new self builds and finds life in Jesus. The old self isolates, but the new self is part of something much larger. The old self speaks to tear down, but the new self speaks to give grace. Church, Hope Alliance Nazareth, this is who we have been saved to be. We are the new family of God. We are his masterpiece. And every time we choose truth over lies, Every time we choose generosity over selfishness, Every time we choose forgiveness and compassion over bitterness and rage, we are putting the masterpiece on display. For God's glory. And our good. 
So. Put off the old. Put on the new. Be transformed by the renewing of your minds, friends. Repent and believe the gospel. Let's pray.