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It’s important to understand the nature of man. If we don’t understand who we are, if we don’t diagnose the human condition properly, we won’t look to the right solution for our problems. We won’t go to the right source to get the help that we need – and we desperately need help; we won’t live the way we should live; and we won’t reach the amazing goal that can be reached.
Who are we? Why are able to think, feel, reason, will, love, hate, care for others yet often hurt the ones we love? Why do humans want peace and justice, yet find that peace and justice are so hard to achieve? Why aren’t we content? So often so unhappy? Disillusioned? Depressed? Bored? Confused? At times, suicidal? Why are there laws, police, courts, jails, militaries, wars, crimes, terrorism, alarms, safes, locks, security codes, passwords, lie-detector tests, psychiatrists, psychologists, mood-stabilizing and mood-enhancing drugs?
Why can we be kind and cruel, wise and foolish, generous yet greedy, selfish and shortsighted? Christianity, the Messianic Jewish Faith, is the only religion or worldview that adequately answers these questions about the nature of man. Here’s what it tells us:
Human beings were made by a personal, righteous, holy and perfect Creator God. They were made in His image with the essential elements of personhood: with mind, emotion and will; with the amazing abilities to think, to feel, to reason, to choose. But the image of God was marred by the Fall.
In the beginning of human history, Adam and Eve joined the rebellion of the fallen angels. As a result, they were alienated from the Creator. After the Fall, when they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, instead of getting closer to God, they ran away from Him and hid from Him.
Not only was the image of God marred, and their relationship with the Creator ruined, but Adam and Eve’s destiny was destroyed. Adam and Eve were not allowed to eat from the Tree of Life and they were exiled from the delightful Garden of Eden. They were no longer headed toward life, but death – the First Death – physical death, followed by the even worse Second Death – Gehenna, Hell, the Lake of Fire.
The Catastrophe of Eden affected every aspect of the humanity of Adam and Eve – their bodies, their souls, their wills, their minds, their emotions, their spirits, their relationship with God, with nature, later their relationship with other humans, their destiny. Every aspect of who they were became damaged, broken, corrupted.
What happened in Eden didn’t stay in Eden. As a result of the Fall, sin, the sin nature, domination by the demons and death took control of humanity. That corruption of body, soul, will, mind, spirit, sexuality, relationship to others, relationship to God and nature, loss of eternal life – all of it was passed on like a horrible disease, infecting all of their descendants – you and me.
But, when we hear the Good News, and understand that Yeshua is the Messiah, and transfer our loyalties to Him and to His Father, They give us their Spirit, and the Holy Spirit joins us to the Father and to the Son, and to the other members of the Community of the Messiah.
We become the honorable and glorious sons and daughters of God! Princes and princesses, kings and queens of the King of Kings. We receive a new nature. We receive new power – power to live for God; power to resist sin; power to do what is right; power to serve God; power to declare the Good News in a world that opposes us.
We have a new orientation – new values, new priorities; living for God, not the world; living for God, not self. Righteousness – doing what is right becomes important to us. Holiness, purity, separation from what is wrong becomes important to us.
The born-again, new-natured children of God can no longer live like the rest of a fallen, depraved world. We can’t separate religion from morality, salvation from holy living.
Rabbi Paul understood this very well, and wanted to make sure the members of Messiah’s Community in Ephesus did too. 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.
The peoples of the world are darkened in their understanding. Their thoughts about the most important things – God, the proper way to live, salvation, eternal life – are wrong, chaotic and confused. Their thought life is futile, useless, ineffective.
What we think about God is essential, crucial, vitally, life-savingly important. They are separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. If ignorance about God causes people to remain in the ruined state they are in – separated from the life of God and therefor headed to Hell, then knowledge about God can end that separation and enable them to live forever with God in Heaven.
Why are the peoples of the world in this horrible condition – darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God? Because of the hardening of their hearts.
Here’s what’s happening: the Creator is constantly trying to reveal truth to human beings, so that they will turn to Him and be saved.
The truth is everywhere around us and is readily available to us, but most people don’t want to know the truth, embrace the truth, end their part in the rebellion against God, submit to His authority and live according to His principles.
God has arranged things so that knowledge, truth, wisdom are accessible to us – that there is one God; that He is wise and powerful; that He is working with the Chosen People; that the Chosen People produced a divinely inspired Book; that Yeshua is the Messiah and the source of salvation; that we are to live righteous and holy lives.
If people will only seek, they will find. If they will only look, they will see; if they only open their ears, they will hear; if they only knock, the door will be opened to them.
But they don’t seek, search, look, listen, hear or knock due to the hardness of their hearts. In their innermost beings, at the core of who they are, they don’t want to get close to God and live the way the Creator wants them to.
Wise king Solomon described it this way: Out in the open, not hidden so few have access, wisdom calls aloud; not in a whisper so only those close by can hear; she raises her voice in the public square – where many people are; on top of the wall, so that everyone can hear wisdom calling to them, wisdom which is like a beautiful attractive woman.
She cries out – speaking with passion so that people will pay attention to her message; at the city gate, which was the city center, Lady Wisdom makes her speech: “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.”
But, like Pharaoh who hardened his heart and refused to listen to Moses, the vast majority of people harden their hearts and refuse to listen to wisdom inviting them to become wise and know the true God and live according to His wise and beneficial principles.
Not knowing or not caring that there is a personal Creator God who is great and wise and holy and righteous results in useless thinking. Useless thinking results in corrupt living. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. The Lord’s divinely inspired representative characterizes fallen humanity as indulging all kinds of corrupt, sensual desires; and being full of greed – never being satisfied; constantly desiring more and more material possessions.
That can’t be us! The sons and daughters of the holy God must live differently from a morally and spiritually corrupt world. That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Messiah and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Yeshua.
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; 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.
Salvation means not only being forgiven for all of our sins; it also includes receiving a new nature. The old, corrupt, fallen nature is still there, but when we transfer our loyalties to the Three-In-One God, we receive a new nature, a godly nature, a nature that is created to be like the nature of God – righteous and holy; and nature that wants to do the right things and be separate from anything that is wrong.
Paul wants us to diminish the old corrupt nature and enhance the new godly nature. The old nature and the new nature are like two dogs who hate each other and are constantly fighting each other. Do you know which dog will win? The dog you feed. We need to feed the new nature and starve the old nature.
We feed the new nature by the attitude of our minds – by constantly reminding ourselves who God is and what He wants and that He has given us the Spirit to empower us to live for Him; Messiah’s community to encourage us; the Word of God to teach us and remind us.
The old nature is like filthy rags. The new nature is like a beautiful new dress or suit. We have been invited to live in the home of a magnificent King who lives in glorious palace. Why wouldn’t we take off the filthy old nature rags and put on the new beautiful dress or suit of the new nature?
Next the Rabbi from Tarsus gives us some specific things not to do, things that are characteristic of the old nature; and he tells us that we are to replace those corrupt behaviors with ways of living that are characteristic of the new nature.
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. Most fallen human beings lie routinely. Big lies, small lies, white lies, dark lies; not telling the truth when they should tell the truth – which is a kind of lying. God is absolute truth and hates falsehood and lies. Lying displeases the God of truth and causes harm and ruins relationships. Those who have been redeemed must not lie, but speak the truth – especially to those in the Community of Salvation to whom we are united. We must be committed to putting off falsehood and speaking the truth.
Fallen human beings are not characterized by inner peace. Inside most people is lurks anger that is barely under control. Yielding to that inner rage causes us to harm others by saying or doing inappropriate things. We are not to give into the anger that lurks within. “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.
There is a kind of righteous anger – anger that is caused by injustice. That kind of anger is OK since it can motivate us to correct the injustice; but even righteous anger needs to be controlled. But anger that gets out of control results in saying and doing inappropriate things that harm others and we later regret.
In your anger, don’t sin. There are ways to learn how to control anger. Learn how to control it. And, if at all possible, try to resolve the situation you are angry about before the day is over. Don’t go to sleep angry – especially with a close family member, especially with your husband or wife. Work out your problems before you go to bed.
Deal with the cause of your anger in a productive way. Unresolved anger gives the Adversary a foothold – a place to stand and attack and cause even more damage.
If given the opportunity, most human beings will steal. They will take what belongs to someone else. We can’t be like that. 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. God is honest, and He is by nature a giver, not a taker. We must be like Him – givers, not takers. We must not steal. In fact, He demands that we do the opposite. We need to have a job, to work and be able to give to those in need.
Fallen human beings often say stupid, inappropriate, crude and rude things. We can’t be like that. 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. As you read the Bible, you will discover that God uses words sparingly and wisely and appropriately. That’s how we are to speak – good, wholesome words, helpful words, words that build up and benefit others.
Fallen human beings grieve God much of the time. It’s possible for the sons and daughters of God to grieve the Holy Spirit of the Living God, but we don’t want to do that. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
The Holy Spirit is a Person – a Person without a body, but a Person nonetheless. We know this because you can’t grieve an impersonal force, like electricity. You can only grieve a person.
And, this Holy Person seals us for the day of redemption. When someone seals something, it shows their ownership or their authority of that thing. And since the Holy Spirit of God has sealed us, it means that He owns us. If He owns us, and we are precious to Him, He will take care of us and protect us.
When something is sealed, it means that it will be delivered to the goal untampered with – unless someone else dares to break that seal. We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of the all-powerful God!
There is no power in the universe able to break that seal! That means that we will be delivered safely to the goal that God has for us – eternal life in the New Jerusalem as the glorious children of God – because we are protected by the Spirit of the Almighty and all-wise God, and no power in the universe can overpower or outmaneuver Him!
This is fantastic! When someone does something exceptionally good for you, you want to please him. You don’t want to grieve him. Why would we want to grieve the Holy Spirit of God who does such a tremendous thing for us – sealing us for the day of redemption – the time when we are completely free from any hold of the satanic slave market of sin and death?
How do we grieve this Holy Person, the Holy Spirit of God? By not being good persons; by being unholy; by being ungodly; by being unspiritual; by not allowing Him to fill us and teach us and guide us and transform us and empower us to resist sin, and build up the community and proclaim the Good News to those outside the Community of Salvation. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Fallen human beings are characterized by emotions, attitudes and actions that prevent them from getting along with each other. We are not to be like that. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
We are to replace bitterness, rage and anger, fighting and slander with their opposites. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Messiah God forgave you.
How do we do this? We recognize that anger, rage, bitterness, fighting and slander are wrong. We get close to God and stay close to God so we can keep any feelings of resentment and anger under control and not give into any rage we might feel. We mediate on love and forgiveness, using the life of Messiah as our example and thinking about His teachings on love and forgiveness. We think about how much we have sinned and how much God has forgiven us. That helps put the sins of others against us into perspective. We make a commitment to be kind and compassionate and forgiving individuals; and we pray that God would help us to be kind and compassionate and gracious.
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, and they are full of greed.
That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Messiah and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Yeshua. 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; 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 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 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. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Messiah God forgave you.
May the Lord enable us, throughout 2014, to live very differently from a corrupt world. Amen?