Change in Attitude
- Rev. Jerry Lepasana
- Aug 10, 2008
- Series: Glorious Change
Glorious Change: (Part II)
CHANGE IN ATTITUDE
Ephesians 4:17-24 (NIV):
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.
20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.
21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
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.
Personal improvement has always been considered as one of the natural drives of human beings. People are consistently looking for ways to improve themselves. The only problem is: so many people give physical enhancement the highest priority.
Take for example the present surge on cosmetic enhancement surgery. According to the latest statistics released by the American Academy of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, their members today are performing an average of 8 million surgical and non-surgical procedures a year. This trend shows a significant increase of almost 300 per cent since 1997. One of their leading surgeons, Dr Mitchell Brown explains, "Cosmetic surgery is out of the closet because we recognize it's not just for the rich and famous anymore. People have the attitude that if they can change something they don't like about their appearance, why not go ahead? Especially when it's safe and achievable."
Obviously, despite the enormous expense involved for these surgeries, people don’t seem to mind as long as these would achieve the results they want.
How about you? What kind of personal improvement have you taken for yourself lately? Are you at all conscious of any area in your life that needs improving? Last Sunday, I started a series, which I entitled, “Glorious Change.” I clearly had established the truth that once a person is in Christ, God is determined to transform him or her into the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ. Our key verse is 2 Corinthians 3:18, “ And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Based on this verse, we uncovered three elements about transformation. Let’s quickly review them:
I THE AIM – God’s purpose to conform us to Jesus Christ.
II THE AGENT – God uses the Holy Spirit to fulfill His aim.
III THE ALLEGIANCE – God is committed to complete His task.
This morning, I intend to be more specific, and show you an area that God is really changing in us - our attitude. You see, our attitude have an incredible impact on our lives. Consider what Dr. Chuck Swindoll wrote about it:
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company … a church … a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past … we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude … I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you … we are in charge of our Attitude.”
I believe this is the very reason why God would like to see some change in this area. If you read again the text we have this morning, especially verse 23, you will find God focusing on this critical part in our lives. So let’s dive into the text and discover how change can occur in our attitudes:
I OUR THINKING: (vs. 17-19)
When the apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers, he taught them regarding the doctrine of transformation. Beginning in verse 17, Paul argued about the expectation of a changed life. As we said last Sunday – A faith that saves is a faith that changes. Here he said - 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. 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. 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.
Notice. He is not just “telling,” he is “insisting.” What is he insisting? That we as believers should stop living like Gentiles in the futility of their minds. If you carefully examine the following verses after that, Paul traces the wrong behaviors of the Gentiles from the wrong condition of the mind.
Now, how is this related to attitudes? Well, when you jump to verse 23, once a person is a believer, Paul specifically mentions that the renewal takes place in the attitudes found in the mind. Consistently, this is also what Paul had declared to the Roman believers:
Romans 12:2 (NIV):
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.
Indeed, transformation begins in the renewal of the mind. Speaking about attitude, this is usually our point of view about a situation. There are three known components for it:
· What you think.
· What you feel.
· What you do.
So, no matter what situation you are in you always have certain thoughts about it. You also have an emotional response to it, and you behave a certain way in it. The
Romans 8:5-6 (NIV):
5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
We need to elevate our minds by allowing the Holy Spirit to teach and guide us. We need to be conscious of what we are thinking, because whatever they are, they will affect our behaviors. As Proverbs 23:7 declares, “ For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (NKJV).
II OUR TARGET: (vs. 20-21)
Since our actions or behaviors are shaped by our thinking, our target should be to develop the mind of Christ. Paul in our text, specifically in verse 21 said - “Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.”
Evidently, Paul assumes that a follower of Jesus have received a good amount of instructions concerning the life and teachings of Jesus. The truth of the matter is: Christlikeness begins in thinking like Jesus Christ. Literally, it is adopting how Christ thinks about God, sin, life, other people, the future, and everything else.
Here is a perfect illustration of how this works. Philippians 2: 5-8:
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.
This passage reveals for us an example of Christ mind or attitude. Despite of Him being God, He was willing to surrender His personal prerogatives and privileges, so He can provide the blessing of salvation. If we are to apply this: to live like Christ means we should be willing to set aside personal comforts and conveniences in order to bless others, especially in terms of them coming to know Jesus as savior.
In relations to this, the critical question for us is: how well do we know the life of Christ? If the mind of Christ is the target, then we need to grow in our knowledge of what Christ did and said during His earthly existence.
If you take the time to study the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), it is apparent that Jesus lived a sinless life because His mind was constantly filled with nothing but the thoughts of God. He was mentally focused on being in perfect obedience to the Father in every detail of His life. Even if this obedience would mean giving Himself up to die a gruesome death on the cross. This attitude allowed Him to overcome the devil’s efforts to tempt Him to sin and forfeit His earthly calling (Matthew 4:1-11). Though this would not be easy for anyone of us because of our sinful nature, we as believers should do our best to think exactly like Jesus Christ.
III OUR TASKS: (vs. 23-24)
There is no doubt that God is changing us, but we should also be willing to cooperate with Him. Paul, in our passage, impresses the fact that we have two important tasks in relation to changing our attitudes:
A. Put Off
The language provides a picture of a person taking off dirty clothes. The old self is likened to these dirty clothes, which we must carefully identify and strategically discard if we desire to develop Christlikeness. Verses 17-19 present some descriptions of the kind of life that is separated from God or the life of a Gentile.
1. Darkness in understanding (v.18a) – Blindness to what is right and wrong.
2. Deadness of life (v.18b) – No true meaning for their existence.
3. Hardness of heart (v.18c) – Being insensitive to God.
4. Unrestrained indulgence to sin (v.19) – No inhibitions to committing any sin.
We should be willing to honestly examine our lives, so we can discard those attitudes that won’t help us and rob us of the blessedness of living a changed life.
B. Put On
After we have discarded the dirty clothes, we need to replace them with good attitudes that are pleasing to God. Earlier we highlighted the mind of Christ. Let me again challenge you to be familiar with the life and teachings of Christ and do our best to adopt them in our lives.
Until we embrace the fact that we have some responsibilities in our attitudes, we will never be able to live a life that brings honor and glory to God. Again, I believe with all my heart that God is working in our hearts, but I also recognize that if we are not as responsive, the Lord can allow us to harden our hearts so that we miss out in growing and developing in life:
Psalms 95:7-8 (NIV):
7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert,
Just like God’s people in the Old Testament who missed out on the Promised Land because of their hardheartedness, we can suffer if we do not choose to change our attitudes. Therefore, let’s consciously desire to change into Gods glorious image.