It is the worse place for Christians to walk. The problem is that many Christians do. What about you?

Am I Walking in the Futility of the Gentile Mind?

Ephesians 4:17-24 (a)

Please turn to Ephesians 4:17-24. Ephesians 4:17-24. As you are turning there I want to remind you of the fact that Paul has been sharing, and pressing forward, a wonderful message that God has placed in his heart. Paul calls it His gospel. He actually does this in a lot places. In other words, he doesn't just say that it is the gospel, which means the good news. He says that it is his gospel, which means, It is his good news. He refers to it as "my gospel" in Romans 2:16. He calls it "my gospel" in Romans 16:25, where he goes on to say that it is according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since before the world began. Paul also uses this terminology in his last letter to Timothy before being executed, where he said,

"8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!" 2 Timothy 2:7-9

When we remember the risen Messiah, we think of the king who rules from heaven, and we think of our heavenly glory while we suffer for Him now. In our Ephesians epistle under study, Paul speaks of the mystery of the gospel revealed to Him. It is the body of Christ, but not the body of Christ risen from the dead and ascended to the Father. It is the body of Christ as His church, where Paul calls it the one new man here in Ephesians 2:15. In the parallel epistle to this one, Paul plainly says that the body of Christ is the church in Colossians 1:24. Paul goes on to say that this is the revelation of the mystery; namely Christ in us, (his elect, redeemed ones) as our hope of glory. Our hope of glory means that our lives are not futile. We have an eternal heavenly expectation of something better. In all Paul's epistles, he expounds upon these things concerning the mystery revealed. Paul has a wonderful message that grounds us in the truths of personally living out the mystery--of personally acting out the mystery of the Christian life. It is where you and I start thinking about what God expects from us now as we walk like heavenly beings on this earth. The message Paul has been giving to us by the Spirit is that God wants us to be in unity as the body. It is a body that has purpose. It is not temporary, like earthly bodies are temporal. It is not futile, and it will be in perfect unity forever. God's message is that He has gifted you, (and he has gifted all of us) in many different ways to accomplish this unity on earth that He desires. God has equipped us to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the people-gifts he has given for the perfecting of one another, so that we, (in the continuous flow), in turn, can build up each other as the body of Christ. This depth of the mystery is the message concerning the fact that God wants all of us to be mature; both in doctrine, and in our actions as Christians. It is the backbone of the fact that your doctrine will ultimately drive your actions, and your actions, (even in the small things), have eternal, everlasting, not-futile meaning. So, it is with all these things out of the way, that Paul goes on. Paul goes on magnifying the same point. He is still talking about our growing and maturing in the body according to sound doctrine. Please read along with me, starting in verse 17,

"17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. [I have verse 19, as the NET accurately renders it;] 19 Because they are callous [meaning they cease to feel in the Greek], they have given themselves over to lasciviousness [which is a word that means purposeful erotic sensuality aside from marital relations] for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old man, [In the Greek the word is old man, and not old flesh, or old self as some translations have it] which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new man, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." Ephesians 4:17-24

The Theme of this new years eve sermon this morning is,

"Am I Walking in the Futility of the Gentile Mind?" [Prayer]

Many people are making new years resolutions today. In that respect, I want us to keep a resolution in mind for our Christian walk. It is the daily resolution of asking: Am I walking according to the futility of the Gentile mind? Keep this in mind as I point out to you that Paul starts out this section with a very straightforward directive that may be one of the most important exhortations of our day. I do not say this with exaggeration. In verses 17 through 18, Paul says to born again people who are the body of Christ, which means you and me,

"So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;" Ephesians 4:17-18

As we go into what the Spirit is saying through Paul, we need to cover some terminology. Paul is writing to the churches of Asia, via Ephesus. The people in these various churches were mostly Gentile converts. So, what this means is that Paul is primarily writing to Gentiles. This leads us to ask a very important question;

Why is Paul talking to Gentiles and then telling them not to walk as the Gentiles also walk?

To understand why Paul is saying this, we need to get to the cultural doctrinal nuances behind this identification. We need to recognize that Gentiles were once not considered to be the people of God. The Israelites of election, were considered to be the people of God, and so the mystery that Paul has been teaching is that elect Gentiles are now called out. Gentiles are now, also, people of God. This fact breaks down the dividing wall that used to be there between Gentiles and Israelites. Remember, Paul said in chapter 2,

"11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called 'Uncircumcision' by the so-called 'Circumcision,' which is performed in the flesh by human hands--12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity." Ephesians 2:11-16

This is so important because it explains how Paul can say to Gentiles to not walk any longer like the Gentiles. The reason is because saved Gentiles are now in the one new man. They are in the body of Christ positionally. They are no longer Positionally in the body of Adam of descendants who came outside of Jacob's lineage, which is Israel. They are the saved. The Gentiles, according to Paul's terminology, are the unsaved. But there is more, my dear brothers and sisters, that we must recognize, and that is that Paul made it clear earlier on in the same epistle that Jews were there too! Yes, the lost sheep of the house of Israel were there too, walking like Gentiles; as Paul says of Himself and the other Israelites of the saved apostolic band in the second chapter, where he says to the saved Gentiles;

"1 you [Gentiles] were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, [In other words, Paul is saying that the saved Gentiles walked according to the Gentiles. He goes on,] according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. [Who are the sons of disobedience? Of course they are Gentiles, but the sons of disobedience are all the offspring of Adam, born in sin, and disobedient to God according to their darkened minds, which would be both Israelites and Gentiles who are lost. Paul goes on. Look at verse 3,] 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." Ephesians 4:1-3

Notice that Paul says that "among them we too all formerly lived." This is important to recognize, because Paul is an Israelite--a Benjamite. The apostolic band is primarily made up of Israelites who were the first converts. The point is that all of us lived like the lost Gentiles, in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. You and I lived in a state where the things of the temporary, naturally ruled the day. So, there we were consumed with everything that was futile, and temporal, as part of our natural instinct. We were among a lost family that has multitudes who are not destined for the eternal glory to come. They are destined for wrath, and so they manifest it in the futility of their minds. This is Paul's point. And it is a very important point, because the fact that Paul says these things to the body of Christ is a demonstration of the need for you and me to ask ourselves the question:

Am I Walking in the Futility of the Gentile Mind?

The reason why I say that this may be one of the most important exhortations for us in our day, and our particular culture, is because of a couple of reasons. One is because of the huge trend toward making the body of Christ look more like the world. What I want us to consider along this line, is the contemporary church that has emerged in history to be what we have today. More particularly, I want us to consider our passage under study in respect to the local fellowship community that God has ordained that we be part of in biblical obedience. The sermon preached by our fellow Elder last week was an excellent one concerning God's mandate that we fellowship consistently in the local body--not forsaking our own assembling together in a biblically defined church meeting where the word of God is preached by a pastor who is a teacher. The concern that I think is too easily diminished as to its importance, but is of great importance, is that there are many churches today that are trying to follow a business ploy. The business pattern is to embrace the community at large as a tactic for recruiting people into the group. I am not talking about embracing a community of Christians. What I am talking about, is the same thing that Church leaders, who are emulating this trend, are talking about, which is simply an outreach method of embracing the secular community that is all around them. In a spirit of entrepreneurial competition, they are primarily wanting to get anyone through the door en masse. After the people are there, the plan is to do everything according to a smooth artistic blueprint of mental manipulation that is meant to keep them there. Let's call it the big embrace. The method of the big embrace is to try to get people from the community into what is called the crowd. The whole scheme is represented as a series of C's that can be illustrated in a graphic of concentric circles. First you embrace the community, and the community's felt needs. This is done because you want them to embrace your church, and you are hoping your humanistic tactics will coax them to embrace Christ. You want them to embrace your church because you want them to feel good about you, and Christianity in general. To do this you must first get the community of unsaved (and for growth's sake, saved people too) into the crowd. This is where worship is supposed to take place. The crowd is what a lot of churches gauge their success in spiritual activity by, because getting the community into the crowd is when people have shown up to congregate in a big mass of other people. You see, in the contemporary church, big numbers are considered to be equated with spiritual success. People in the worship section, called, the crowd, may give money. They may sing with everyone else. They may bow their heads in the call to pray. But, the crowd is not necessarily a crowd of saved people. But that does not matter to this contemporary church making method movement. Because what matters is that the crowd is big, and the people feel welcomed, comfortable, at ease, and embraced. The contemporary plan, is to then get people from this crowd into the next "C." The next C is kinda fuzzy. The next C is called the congregation. Everyone has already congregated in the crowd, but this next C is where the saved are supposed to recognize each other for true Christian fellowship. The next C is what is called the committed. The committed, are identified as committed when they join the church through a written church covenant that they sign, where they agree to tithe and support the mission, vision, and purpose of that kind of church. Then from there, people from the committed are identified, trained, and encouraged to be another C--the core. The core are the people who work and do things to help facilitate more church growth. The big problem with all of this occurs with the big embrace of the community in connection with the crowd aspect, and then it trickles down from there. What do I mean? In other words, to get people in the community to become interested in being in the crowd, the look and feel of church must be made attractive according to cultural standards of excitement, trendiness, coolness, and slick catering to felt needs. What happens is that the biblical definition of the community, crowd, and committed, in respect to a biblical church fellowship mode, becomes blurred. It is the result of a contemporary church making method of trying to make sure everyone gets a yes answer to three questions:

1) is this attractive to me?;

2) is this whole thing making me feel comfortable?;

and,

3) is it doing something for me that I feel it needs to do for me?;

Yes, according to this method, church becomes a marketing institution. Now, having a nice atmosphere is not the problem. The problem is that people's felt needs (whether saved, or unsaved) are being catered to so that they will not be repulsed by an intensely Christian culture. The intensely Christian culture is the one that promotes the full teachings of eternal biblical precepts as that which drives its actions. The church, that I am talking about, that is driven by the futile Gentile mind, is not being pushed to resemble the heavenly realm in all of its purely God glorifying splendor, but is rather pushed to resemble the comfortable trendiness of the futile earthly realm. Part of the method used to keep from repulsing people in both the crowd, and the watered down congregation, is to preach sermons that are not controversial. This keeps the blending with the congregation in so called worship. Part of the method is to preach sermons that are not doctrinally challenging to the futile Gentile mind. If you repulse people with a culture of Christianity that is too intense, then those who are not saved, and those who are satisfied with being babies in Christ, will leave. People are by nature, malcontents, divisive, gossipy, easily offended because of their immaturity, unwilling to stick around and bear one another's burdens, and generally have critical spirits; and so rather than identify malcontentment, unforgiveness, divisiveness, and criticalness as the unsaved person's problem that is expected of them because of their lostness, and as a problem of the babe in Christ that needs to be repented of (for the enduring heavenly walk of unity in the bond of peace in building up the body of Christ, as Paul has been pressing in chapter 3 coming into chapter 4 here in Ephesians), a resulting consequence has occurred. Stay with me because the consequence is that whole churches are being organized and operated according to walking in the futility of the Gentile mind. From this comes the much greater consequence;

multitudes of Christians are being formed into the image of the futile Gentile mind.

Listen to me, this is why I say that this may be one of the most important exhortations for us in our day and culture. Those of us here who have experienced this trend first hand, know exactly what I mean. Consequently, because of this trend, one aspect of New Covenant revelation is preached strong and hard in these kinds of downgraded churches. Nevertheless, one aspect is preached at the sake of preaching more fully concerning the rest of New Covenant truth. The part that is preached to appease the crowd, is that the New Covenant is all about grace to be accepted as you are, (which we should believe and teach, and we do believe and teach) but the partial teachings of this crowd pleasing message, are teachings that go on to bolster the market, and so grace is magnified to mean that preaching and teaching is meant for what you think you need, according to what you think matters according to your felt needs. Jesus paid it all, and so this glorious truth of the mystery is pressed as all one needs to get by with. Let's call it, "Get by theology." But, the other message that is diminished is the aspect of intense Christian culture according to the eternal mind of Christ, which is every Christian's responsibility as the body of Christ, to no longer be walking in the futility of the Gentile mind. This part is typically reduced to a second rate level of importance because it can scare away the crowd. Whenever the crowd does not feel their felt needs being met, then they feel like it is time to go somewhere else for the better feeling. What social scientists call this is post modernism, where one's personal feelings are the criteria of what is right, good, and beneficial. Part of the problem though, is that the futile Gentile mind always offers us things that feel right. The Gentile mind always suggests what feels good. It always promotes what feels beneficial to our temporary fleshly natures, and just getting by fits that mold in an appealing way. Walking according to the futility of the Gentile mind is simply the way people put their own inferior feelings concerning what they need, and what they want, above what our superior God says they need, according to what He wants.

Now listen carefully, because this leads to the second reason why this may be one of the most important exhortations of our day, and that is because of the let God do it all theory of practicing Christianity. Maybe you have never heard of this before. Let me tell you about the let God do it all theory, because it is gaining popularity again among a lot of churches. The let God do it all theory was taught back in England through what was termed the Keswick movement. It came from the Keswick conventions that started in 1875. An author by the name of Miles Stanford picked up the doctrine and put his own special interpretations on it in the 1970' and 80's. Today, there are many offshoots of theological movements that teach some aspect of the let God do it all theory of Christian living. An author by the name of Bob George is one of them. He's a Dallas guy. Basically, what is taught concerning this philosophy is that since we are positionally in Christ as the body of Christ, then we have been crucified with Christ, and risen with Him. Now, I ask you; is there anything wrong with that so far? No. Because, we are positionally in Christ as the body of Christ. We have been crucified with Him in identification with Him, and we have been raised with Him in the same identification, (Galatians 2:20, and so many other passages). It is, in fact, another way to explain our salvation. So, this is a good foundation, but the allow God to do it all theory does not end there. What is said, is that since we are already in Christ positionally, then we don't need to be concerned with our sinful condition anymore. We are saved, so we need to let go of trying to live the Christlike life, because, as it is said, "we are only going to fail anyway" How's that for a new years resolution?--"We are only gong to fail anyway." With this attitude, nothing gets done, but that is, in one sense, the point of the theory, and so, according to the allow God theory, what we really need to do, is something called allowing God to live the Christlike life through us. Now please try to follow me on this, because, it is said that when it comes to sin, and sanctification, we need to only reckon ourselves dead to sin by faith, and then because we are reckoning this, we just let God work the sin out of us. The theory goes on and suggests that you can not change a dead man, so why are you even trying to live the Christian life? The old you is what sins, and the old you has been crucified. God can change the saved you, and He will, but you must let Him do it by allowing Him to live the Christian life through you. This philosophy sounds good when certain scriptures are pieced together to build the case. It is especially appeals to people who are worn out from religious activity in constantly trying to make themselves acceptable to God. Nobody is perfect in all their actions, and so it is understandable that because of legalism in attempting to please God, huge numbers of Christians are drawn to this type of teaching. The philosophy also appeals to people who have no desire to change what they see has been covered by grace anyway. Remember the just get by mentality? Well, its here in this way of immature thinking too. The problem is that in practicality, allowing God to sanctify you, is really something that is a nebulous directive. It lacks any kind of clarity concerning the rest of New Covenant scripture. Furthermore, it just doesn't work without you doing something yourself. The reason why it is so esoteric is because the fullness of God's word tells us that God is doing in us by working in us already (as the body of Christ). God has already set you apart in salvation, and He will set you apart in the resurrection, and now in your daily walk (outside of the futility of the Gentile mind), God sets you apart through conviction, through molding, and sovereign means, through the word of God renewing your mind, where you and I really do have to do something as people who are God's children in the body of Christ. Everything we know to do is found in the fulfillment of the Law of Christ, which is to love God, and love our neighbor, and the only way we know how to do that law in all of its comprehensive aspects, is the same way we even know that such a law exists in the first place, and of course, that way is through the fullness of God's revelation to us through the Bible, by His Spirit. The way you let go of your sin, and let God, is to purposely and intentionally live by the eternal Spirit by walking no longer as the Gentiles walk in the futility of their temporal minds, and you do that by learning the word of God, and then applying personal effort to walk like it tells you to walk in intense Christianity. Since the word of God tells us to run from immorality, and to love our brothers and sisters by bearing their burdens, and to put away all filthiness, and foul language, and things like these, then we know that when we are tempted to do such things, that we live what God has done in us, and is doing in us, by purposely applying self effort from our saved self to letting go of those things according to His word in obedience. You see, obedience is personal effort. No matter how you want to attempt to couch the argument, obedience is something you do, and actions of obedience are the proof of your obedience. Now, we are so prone to wander aren't we? I know I am. Wandering is an action too. Wandering, for those of us who are having a hard time understanding what I mean, is when you let go and let yourself sin. OK, now does that make sense? In other words, we are saved, but we also sin at times, which means that we do things that are those kinds of things that miss the mark of God's standard of righteousness. When we fail, we are forgiven in our position, as John says,

"1... I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation [the wrath absorber] for our sins;" 1 John 1:1-2

Don't you notice the times when you fail to walk according to the way of Christ? As we notice ourselves failing, we can rest in His grace. We are all failures, so we should already be resting in His grace. Always remember, grace is a word that literally means undeserved, and unmerited favor. This means that grace can only be a gift. If it was anything else, it would be a reward. Once you try to say that grace is something you must earn, then you are saying that it is deserved; it is merited, and it is no longer a gift. But here is the point; in your forgiveness, even when you fail, you still need to make every effort to repent and make every effort to not walk as the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind. When we walk in Christ, according to the eternal mind of Christ, by purposely putting the word of God to real actions, then we are doing what we are told to do in our position in Christ. It is really that simple. Now this leads us to examine why, and how, the Gentiles walk. It's time for some verse to verse! They walk,

"18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. 19 Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to lasciviousness for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." Ephesians 4:18-19

Everything that Paul just described is the opposite of the eternal life of Christ. The way the Gentiles walk is the way everyone walks while outside of being saved. They have a type of understanding about God, but it is a darkened futile understanding. In other words, the typical Ephesian living there, in what was Asia at the time, would think of the false goddess of Diana, or some other pagan cult when they thought of god. If you were to talk to an Ephesian about God, they would use similar language to describe a supernatural being that is prayed to, that is worshipped, and that is obeyed. But, it is not a supernatural understanding that comes from a miraculous revelation of the one true God. The futile Gentile mind always has the light dimmed, and so it is never able to come to the full knowledge of the truth. This is why Paul describes saved Gentiles in the next chapter by explaining how they were, back when unsaved. He says,

"8 you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light." Ephesians 5:8

What is this big contrast? Why are the Gentiles darkness? Let's ask ourselves, "Can they be darkness even while having some enlightenment of the gospel through being raised in the church?"; "Can they be darkness while being an elder's child?"; "Can they be darkness while being familiar with the doctrines of Christianity from reading a book?"; or going to a seminary?"; or that kind of thing?" Speaking of the Gentile mind that operates in futility, Paul gives us the answer,

"4 in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:4-6

This is the same thing Paul means in our Ephesians text. The Gentiles are in darkness because their eyes are blinded so that they can not see the light of the gospel. Unsaved people may know the gospel message. In fact they may know how to present it better than many saved people, but the saving light of the good news of the glory of Christ that goes beyond the story is kept from them, and so they are unbelieving. Christ has not shone in their hearts to live the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Because of this, the whole world, which we now have a new term, as "the Gentiles," is excluded from the life of God. They are ignorant, but they do not think that they are ignorant. People today are just as dim; just as ignorant. Muslims think they know the One true God, but they are darkened in their understanding. Jehovah Witnesses are darkened in their understanding. Wiccans are darkened in their understanding. People who relentlessly claim to be authentic genetic Israelites, but with no family tree, and who claim to be worshipping Jehovah, but rejecting Jehovah manifested in the flesh, are darkened in their understanding, and are lost. The whole world walks this way, and so even though they might have a form of piety in worship of the supernatural, and may even call it "god," they are lost. They are excluded from the life of God. Everything they claim to know about God outside of supernatural revelation from God is in the ignorance that is within them. The life of God, is the life that is in Christ. Now, I want to bring something to our attention right here. Paul says,

"because of the hardness of their heart." Ephesians 4:18

This, by the way, is the biggest problem of the futile Gentile mind. This was the biggest problem for you--for me--for all of us at one time. Apart from the sovereign grace of God, our hearts are stone monuments of sin against God. Our whole natures are like lifeless rocks in respect to the truth of all that is spiritual. What we must understand is that Paul is saying that this problem is much bigger, and it is a much deeper than simply being ignorant about God. It is much bigger than not having the things of God explained in such a way that our thick marble minds are penetrated, and so we are supposedly convinced by articulate words of wisdom. What this means is that the hard heart is the bed rock of both the cause and the guilt concerning the ignorance. What Paul is saying is that the lost heart is the stoney core of both the cause of human ignorance concerning God, (which is inability to understand true spiritual things, plus rebellion against God about the gospel of the One true God), and it is also the essence of the guilt of ignorance. It is also the essence of human ignorance concerning God, and inability to understand true spiritual things. It is also the essence of rebellion against God about the gospel of the One true God. This is a huge revelation. Notice that Paul says "because,"

"18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart." Ephesians 4:18

There are two becauses here. What we must notice is that Paul is indicating that the hardened heart is massively bigger and immensely deeper than ignorance about God and the things of the spirit. What this means is that there is no excuse for the Gentile. Ignorance of spiritual things does not make anyone who is unsaved into an innocent person before God. Ignorance about God and the things of the spirit is a sin. The futile Gentile mind doesn't see it this way though. The man centered mind of man centered religion doesn't see it this way. The natural tendency of religion is to want to believe that lost people are not accountable for what they do not know. But the fact that they don't know, and are darkened in their understanding; excluded from the life of God, is all because of their own hard heart. The ignorance is "in" them. What this means is that all the evidence in the world will not crush the rock and turn it into a heart of flesh. All the religious devotion to a false God in a pagan land does not come from a soft heart that just hasn't gotten all the right knowledge yet.

I remember talking to a man who wanted to do missionary work among Muslims. As we talked, he said that he wanted to lead them to understand the true identity of the god they worshipped by mistake, as being really Jehovah. His point was that by presenting the truths from the Bible to them, then they would recognize that they are worshipping God in ignorance as lost people, and so they would worship God in truth as saved people. A lot of missionaries, particularly among Muslims, believe this. But, this gets it all wrong. You see, people who worship allah, do not worship God, either in ignorance, or by accident. They worship a demon, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians,

"20 No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God;" 1 Corinthians 10:20

They worship demons according to their sinful rock hard hearts that are made out of the mineral of sin. The way you grow a crystal is from a mineral where the atoms line up in nice neat rows. Another word for crystal is rock. Crystal is just a pretty word for a type of rock. A hard heart is a sin crystal, and it can not be broken by the hand of mere mortals. In fact, it must be changed into something else completely different. It must be changed into a heart of flesh. This is what the prophet Ezekial meant when he prophesied to Old Covenant Israel of the New Covenant that was to come in Messiah Jesus to the remnant that God elects, when He said,

"25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. 28 ... you will be My people, and I will be your God. 29 Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness;" Ezekial 36:25-29

God must give the new heart, and God must put in the new spirit. He is the one who must remove the heart of stone, and give the heart of flesh. He is the one who must, and does, put His Holy Spirit within people who are saved, and instead of causing us to walk according to the Gentiles, He causes us to walk highways of heaven positionally according to the living word of God who lives in us, and we in Him, and then practically, through His word, by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, He causes us to walk in His eternal statutes, and be careful to observe His ordinances.

This leads us to consider Paul's third "because." It has to do with why the Gentiles walk in the futility of their minds,

"18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. 19 Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." Ephesians 4:18-19

The reason why the Gentiles are callous is because their hearts are darkened in their understanding. They are callous because they are excluded from the life of God. They are callous because of the ignorance that is in them. They are callous because of the hardness of their heart. There is no other reason. The result is the walk that we are all familiar with as being the walk of the typical person in our society. Unsaved people, as a matter of their natures, are not only given over to the state of sin, but in that state, they willingly, and lovingly give themselves over to the practice of it. Paul explains it with three straightforward descriptions of what he means. Paul wants to make it clear because what he makes clear is what we will recognize as the way that Gentiles walk in the futility of their minds. And the question before us this morning is; Am I walking in the futility of the Gentile mind?" Paul says that,

"they have given themselves over to lasciviousness for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." Ephesians 4:19

In the context, Paul is probably referencing the unrestrained sexual escapades of the Gentiles of the Roman empire in general, and of Ephesus and the surrounding cities in particular. In their hardened heart, they have abandoned themselves to outrageous sexual behavior that is base, and animal like. It is all according to fulfilling their felt needs, which is really their sensual wants. The Greek word for impurity that Paul uses here is a word that means uncleanness. It is translated both ways in the New American Standard Bible. Basically what Paul is saying that walking according to the futile Gentile mind is, is that lost people do anything they want to that is sinful, immoral, and unclean. They do it whenever they want to, and they can not get enough of it. The point is that sinful passions and desires are never satisfied. What this means for us my dear Christians, is that we are different now. Our hearts are changed. We don't walk in the futility of a lost mind. Our minds have eternal purpose and we understand the eternal purposes of God. In a very real way, we are to walk as Christ walked. We are the body of Christ. The body of Christ should walk with a heavenly gait. It is designed to walk according to a higher calling, where we recognize the high standard of what we are in Christ. Here is our urging,

"... that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,"

There is an eternal weight of glory in our resurrected hope. As the body of Christ now, we need to be seeking the same customs, and cultural norms of that glorious place that is going to be our eternal dwelling. We will walk the streets of gold there someday. Let us walk like the soles of our feet are made for gold pavement, but let us walk like this right now in the midst of our society that is so blinded by darkness that we even find that the futility of the Gentile mind is influencing the body of Christ to walk like it is also in futility. You are His eternal church. You are His eternal body. You are gifted by the apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors who are teachers to be eternally walking like a mature body--one that is like the stature of Christ Jesus who is the true definition of spiritual maturity.

This morning I leave you with a writing that left a deep impression upon me this week. It was written by the Irish Brethren Bible expositor, and theologian from the 1850's by the name of CH Mackintosh. He wrote,

"It is of the utmost importance that the Christian reader should understand the doctrine of the Church's heavenly character ... To be soundly instructed in the heavenly origin, heavenly position, and heavenly destiny of the church, is the most effectual safeguard against worldliness in the Christian's present path, and also against false teaching ... The church is not of the world. Her life, her position her hopes, are all heavenly in the very highest sense of the word. ... The doctrine of the Church's heavenly character was developed in all its power and beauty by the Holy Ghost in the apostle Paul. ... We must never forget that the everyday tendency of the human mind not only falls short of, but stands actually opposed to, all this divine truth about the church. The heart naturally clings to the earth, and the thought of an earthly corporation is attractive to it. Hence we may expect that the truth of the Church's heavenly character will only be appreciated and carried out by a very small and feeble minority."--CH Mackintosh

Amazing words. Folks, you and I need to be a part of that small humble, "feeble minority" that seek to walk the heavenly walk that the church's legs are designed for. With hearts that seek to naturally cling to the earth, we need to be looking to a higher standard. I encourage you to daily be checking little pockets of your life as you ask yourself the question: Am I walking in the futility of the Gentile Mind?; or am I walking in the fullness of the eternal weight of glory to which I have been called in the body of Christ? Be diligent to not give in to the temporal feel-good stuff just because it is convenient, and so it is conveniently tempting to downgrade your walk. You and I have a high standard. The standard of our maturity is Christ Himself. Let us seek to walk like His heavenly example to us every single day--as more than a fleeting new years resolution, but as the resolution of God for our lives.