20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— (Ephesians 4:20–ESV)
When Apollos, Paul, Priscilla, and Aquilla first brought the gospel message to Ephesus what did they find? They found men and women living in spiritual ditches by the side of difficult roads; their lives were in spiritual shambles. Their tires were flat, shredded, and knowing no way to change those tires they had fallen from the journey of life.
What happened when the gospel came? They were picked up, cleaned off, and taught of a newness of life that comes by knowing Jesus Christ. They were given new tires, a tank full of gas, and shown the way to the Celestial City. “Drive with these tires to that city and you will find what you are looking for,” said the helpers.
That is verse 20. This is an analogy of how they learned Christ.
Continuing the analogy, the people headed off into the traffic back into life’s journey, but guess what? When the helpers were responding to another call they found some of these men and women driving their cars on the wrong roads. The tires under their cars were not shredded but they were going flat. The rims were not yet sparking, but if left unattended they soon would be. In this passage, it is as if Paul motions this failing car over to the side and says, “Hey, your tires are going flat. Aren’t you that fellow we helped on the other road? You are on the wrong one again. This is not the way we said to go. This road is so bumpy that the construction trucks drop nails and other things on the road. Your tires are going to be ruined.”
Coming back to the Ephesian church, Paul is saying, “When you were rescued you were taught to leave the ungodly ways behind.” He said that with emphasis.
20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, (Ephesians 4:20-22–ESV)
“At one time,” Paul goes on, “you lived according to the desires for things on the other side of the tracks, in that red district. Those desires were corrupt, though. They came with built in deceit. One taste and hooked you were. It looked like water and did not smell like alcohol, but a sip of that stuff gives a heady proof of what it is. Soon the senses are dulled and you are in the trap of trouble.”
Here is that classic admonition of God as recorded in the Bible: Put off the old and put on the new. The old self is not a helpful one. You moved to a new section of town when you met Christ. What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas. You were lost in Vegas and now found in Christ. Do not try to import the sinful styles to this part of town. That is what you were taught. That is what is written in the covenants of your new homeowner’s association.
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