Mind What You Wear

Well, good morning, everybody. It is so good to have you here. My name's René, another one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church. You know, one of the things I love about the summer at Twin Lakes Church is all the visitors that we get from all over the place. So, so far this weekend, I've already met people visiting from Nashville, Oregon, Minneapolis, and Switzerland. So, it's super cool. So, welcome. If you're visiting, we're so stoked that you're here. I hope you find the church friendly.

And I'm not gonna do the thing that you're probably dreading right now that a lot of pastors do, where it's like, show of hands, how many of you are from outside of California? How many of you from outside the United States? Because I know that if you're new, that can be awkward, and a lot of you are introverts, and that makes you uncomfortable, and you hate that kind of, in fact, show of hands, how many of you hate that kind of stuff? Can I see that show of hands? Just kidding.

Hey, I just wanna share with you something really cool that I saw that the Union Gospel Mission up in Seattle is doing, a great organization. In fact, Valerie, one of our pastors here at church, grew up going down there every single weekend with her dad playing the piano for the church services, while her dad preached and led worship. So, it's got ties to Twin Lakes Church.

And like a lot of great rescue missions, like Pahora Rescue Mission here in town, Union Gospel Mission in Seattle, you know, they help people get off the streets, people who are homeless, drug addicts, alcoholics, get 'em cleaned up, and not only get off their bad habit, but also find Jesus, get saved, and it changes their lives. But, the director noticed something. He noticed that it was hard, even though people believed in Jesus, and even though people were no longer participating in their habit or addiction, they still find it hard sometimes to break out of their own friendship circles, to break out of their old hangouts, and to really start advancing in life, professionally and personally.

And so, they decided to add something to what they were doing, not only to preach the gospel, but also, really frankly, as an outworking of the gospel in their lives, they decided to also give them physical makeovers. To people like Mark Isaacson. Now, Mark was an addict for 30 years, lived on the streets for most of that time, heroin and methamphetamines. He says, quote, "I was lost, I was broken, I overdosed three times, but I was brought back to life by the grace of God." Isn't that awesome? It's awesome.

So, the mission said, "That's great, Mark, but let's get you a new look that matches your new identity." And so, they gave him a beard trim, they gave him a haircut, brand new clothes, all tailored by professionals, and it totally changed Mark's self-esteem, totally changed the way he looked at himself. But here's what they didn't expect. They noticed that not only for Mark, but for all of the guys and the women for whom they gave these physical makeovers, their memories started improving. They started doing substantially better on tests they were taking at community colleges and universities. They started getting more rapid promotions at work, not just 'cause they looked better, but because they were actually doing better.

It turns out that the rescue mission was seeing a phenomenon that there's recently been a lot of studies on. Researchers called this "enclothed cognition." They've actually got a name for it. This whole idea was first published about 11 years ago in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. And in an article then, the authors of the study summarized a bunch of different research in this area. The most famous experiment was volunteers at a university who wore a white doctor's lab coat did better on their exams than the students who did not wear a lab coat to class.

And this is true in so many different ways. For example, people who wear O'Neill sweatshirts and reef flip-flops become better surfers. No, that's not true, I only wish. But listen, parents and grandparents see this all the time, right? When kids put on costumes, they're just going to make believe land. They become a different person. And some of you parents and grandparents are thinking, I'm gonna make my kid wear a white lab coat every time she takes a test, right? She'd do better.

But the Bible passage that we look at today, the Apostle Paul actually uses this phenomenon. Now, of course, they didn't call it "enclothed cognition" back then, but they still knew about this tendency of people to live up to their dress. And Paul's going to use this as a metaphor for the spiritual life. Let me show you the key to this whole passage. It's the dominant metaphor that Paul uses here is exactly what I've been talking about. Here's the key phrases. Put off the old self. Say that out loud with me, let me hear you. Put off the old self. And the phrases he uses there, that's literally the word for take off those clothes. And then here's the second phrase that's key. Put on your new self. Let's say that out loud together too. Put on your new self. Say put off, put on. Put off, put on. Say it again. Put off, put on.

The Apostle Paul is saying, you are saved. You are loved. You are blessed by God. Now put on new clothes that reflect your new identity. Now you've got the whole big idea for the passage of the Bible we're gonna be looking at. Listen, here's why you're gonna love this. If you wonder why you seem to be stuck in neutral right now spiritually, if you wonder why you seem to be doing all the right things like you're reading the Bible, you're going to church, you're praying, you love Jesus, but still your heart kinda seems a little cold. What Paul talks about in this passage could lead to a breakthrough for you today. Grab your message notes. Your true purpose is what we call our series in the second half of the book of Ephesians. Your true identity was our series in the first half. And if you have your Bible's revival apps turn to Ephesians chapter four, verses 17 through 32. Excuse me. Got a little frog in the throat there. Too many donuts.

Now, what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna set this up a little bit here before we dig into those four quick application points at the end of the message that are there in your notes. I think you need to understand the whole concept. So a quick recap. So far, the author of the book of Ephesians, this 2000 year old letter to Christians in the city of Ephesus, that's part of our Bible, he has been using a lot of language tied to the Roman slave market. Kind of like in this ancient carving of Roman slaves. You can see these guys with the ropes around their necks and there's a centurion or somebody leading them toward the slave market.

And what would happen is if you fell into debt, like you owed a debt that you could not pay and there was no savings for you to pay the debt, the way they resolved that, you know, they didn't have a lot of prisons in the ancient world. Hardly any, it was like the jail cell was where you were held for trial, but you weren't punished by going to prison. You were punished by, you need to pay these people back and if you didn't have money to pay them back, guess what? You were sold into slavery. And the money that was paid for you as a slave went to the people that you owed money to, either as restitution or a debt that you owed. And if you owed a lot of money, then like your wife's wife and children, they were sold into slavery too, along with all your property.

Now, you could be sold into slavery for like a five year term, 10 year term, or if you owed a ton of money for the whole rest of your life. So the apostle Paul is using language associated with this. Let's say that there was a Roman slave and he was a slave because he owed so much money, he could never repay it. So he's got to go into slavery and be sold for life because that's gonna get his debtors a lot of money. And so he's standing there on the stage at the slave market wondering what his future is going to be like. And then, imagine this, the emperor shows up. As in Caesar, and he points to him and says, "I choose you." And he pays the price, buys him off the slave market. And at first that slave's gonna think, "Oh great, I'm gonna be slave in the palace, at least." But the emperor says, "No, you don't understand it. I'm setting you free. And I'm paying all of your remaining debts. That's fantastic. No, there's more. I am now adopting you into my family. And I'm making you heir to all of my riches at the same level as my own firstborn son." And the slave says, "That is amazing, but what did I do to deserve all this? What do I owe you for this?" And the emperor says, "Nothing, it's a free gift just to show my extravagant grace and love for you."

And the apostle Paul is saying, "Don't you see, that's your story." He's been saying, "You have been chosen by the emperor of the universe. Your debt's forgiven. You're redeemed." And the word used for therefore redeemed in Greek, Apollotrosus, that's the word for redeeming a slave off the slave market and then setting them free. You're an adopted child of God. You are a co-heir of Christ just because God loves you and is a gracious God. And that's all in the verses that we've looked at so far in this series. And the Ephesians, this would have been striking a bell for them because we know in history that occasionally this happened at the Roman Empire. That wealthy elite people would adopt slaves like adult slaves and they would say, "I'm going to make this slave, former slave, my heir, and I'm going to set him free."

And so they would have been picturing this emotional scene because the slave would get something at a ceremony. The slave would get to put on, for the first time in his or her life, the toga. Now these days we think of togas as, you know, bedsheets that college students wear at frat parties from Animal House or something, right? Big deal. But in those days, the toga was a status symbol that only the elite citizens of Rome, in fact it was illegal for a non-citizen to even ever wear a toga. It was illegal for a foreigner who wasn't Roman to ever wear a toga. And the color of the toga determined your status in Roman society, only the emperor's family got to wear the best togas. So what did slaves wear? Well, they wore a tunic, which was basically a long t-shirt with a belt around it. And they were, legally, they were given one a year. They wore the same tunic for a year. And they were given wooden sandals once every two years. So imagine what all this looked like and smelled like after two long years, right?

But when they got adopted into a family like the emperors, they got to put on new clothes, fancy clothes. Well, in today's passage, Paul basically says, "Because that's you, take off the tunic and put on the toga. You're an adopted child of God. You're a child of the king. You're a co-heir with Christ, but you may still be wearing in the form of habits your old rags." So what you need to do is to get that old slave tunic off and dress like the royalty that you already are. So now that you understand the metaphor he's using here, let's dig into the passage and then let's make some four quick applications.

Watch this, Ephesians four starting in verse 17. So, he's tying this back into all the things he's been talking about, all the things that are already true of you, how you've been blessed and chosen and adopted and set free. So, I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, the people who haven't had this experience in the futility of their thinking. It's futile, it's unproductive, it's not really going anywhere good. It's because, he says, they are darkened in their understanding. They don't get it and they're separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. They don't understand, they're unwise. Due to the hardening of their hearts, they become calloused and insensitive to spiritual things and having lost all sensitivity, they've given themselves over to sensuality.

In other words, they're insensitive to things of God and they're not feeling the joy, they're not feeling the connection to God, but they're looking for it. They're looking for that love, but in all the wrong places. And it's not that there's anything wrong with our senses and with sensuality, but what they're doing is they're trying to find God in senses. Like they're always searching for the next high, is what he's saying. So as to indulge in every kind of impurity and they're full of greed, in other words, they can never get enough. He's saying that this is what the culture, the world's culture is like, always looking for the next high. Just it's never enough, never enough, never enough. And so they become insensitive and calloused.

He says that, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. Okay, stop there for just a second. Who is Paul addressing with all of this? This is really important and I feel like the message of Christianity gets so messed up when we don't notice what Paul is doing here. Who is the you? Who is Paul addressing? Is he addressing people in the world who live insensitively and callously and so on? Who is he addressing here? Christians. Paul isn't judging the world. Paul isn't yelling at the world, you ignorant, calloused, insensitive indulgers. Paul isn't even addressing the world. He's addressing believers.

You know, our problem isn't getting the world to live like Christians. Our problem is getting Christians to live like Christians. Don't judge the world, don't yell at the world. Paul's simply saying the world is selling their stuff, they got a right to sell their stuff, but you don't have to buy their stuff. You were taught with regard to your former way of life, put off your old self, which is being corrupted. It's like a year old slave tunic. It's like two year old stinky slave sandals. Ugh, it's being corrupted by its deceitful desires. Instead, be made new in the attitude of your minds and put on the new self, your new duds, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, put on new clothes that reflect your new identity. Put on clothes that match the man.

Now, of course, Paul is not talking threads but thoughts, right? I don't know if you notice, verse 17, it ends with their thinking. Verse 18, their understanding. Verse 20, you have the word learned. Verse 21, the word taught. Verse 23, the word minds again. His point is simply this, Christians think different. I don't know if you remember the Apple ad campaign, think different. I loved it. And the idea behind the campaign, which just had these words, and then a picture of a world changer like Jackie Robinson here, even though he was a dodger. I still love this guy. But the idea is the whole world thinks one way, herd mentality. World changers think different. And that's exactly Paul's point.

Our true purpose, and that's why this is the title for this series, the second half of the book of Ephesians, our true purpose as Christians is just to be different, to be so different in our approach to people, to even if people disagree with us, to be loving and gentle and kind and compassionate and gracious, just like God was gracious to us. And we're gonna change the world that way. By the way, think different. That's really what the word repent means. Did you know that? Metanoia, the Greek word for repent, just means to change your thinking from the old way to the new way.

Now, this is great. We probably all love this idea. The challenge is this. Christians live in a culture where this worldly way of thinking is kind of embedded, right, in everything around us, whether it's movies or music or video games or podcasts or news stories, social media, YouTube videos, books, websites, the concepts and ideas that you are letting feed your brain. In a way, thoughts are the clothes that your soul wears. You see? And when you think of these things, when you take these things in, concepts and ideas from all these sources, those are ways you're clothing your soul.

And some of this stuff that we get is fun. Some of it is wonderful. Some of it is thought-provoking and enlightening. But I just have to tell you, and maybe it's because I'm a pastor, but I probably think it's 'cause I'm a grandpa. And I've got five grandkids now, six and under. And when I think of them being exposed to some of the stuff that I see, even stuff for kids, and how casually it seems to glorify crude behavior, violent behavior, rude behavior, crass behavior, man, I am astonished. We need to be mindful and not mindless of what we're putting into our mind. Right? I think we could all agree with that, right?

Now here's the problem. When we talk about these things in church, the problem becomes when pastors try to tell you exactly what shows you shouldn't watch, or what music you shouldn't listen to, I am never gonna tell you what you can't and can't do. You know why that's a bad idea? Well first, that's what cults do. Right? The word of God doesn't go into those kinds of specifics. Could've. Think about it. Paul could've said, this is why you should never read that poet Heraclides. Or, I've read all of Socrates, and I've come up with the stuff that he wrote that's okay for you Christians to read. He just tells you, guys, be different. Gives you the big idea, be made new in the attitude of your minds.

And I love that idea new, or the idea different. You know, I don't wanna be unloving. I don't wanna be judgmental. I don't wanna be unaccepting. I wanna be different. I wanna be unique. I wanna be fresh. I wanna be new. Because then, we show the image of Jesus to people, and they're attracted to the gospel. But, I don't believe that as a pastor, I should stand up here and say, well you can't do this, and you can't do this, and make little lists. Again, why not? Well because that approach keeps people immature. That's what you do for very small children, because they need it. But Paul is trying to nudge these grown men and women into actual maturity.

And mature people make their own choices for themselves, but based not on indulging their appetites, based on their core identity, and what they see as their destiny. And do you understand something here? This is why Paul only gets to this, put off the old, put on the new, after three and a half entire chapters in the book of Ephesians, where he doesn't even mention repentance. Did you notice that? Somebody came up to me about three weeks ago and said, René, when are you gonna talk about repentance? You're just talking about grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. I said, well when Paul talks about it, I'll talk about it. But for three and a half chapters, Paul's just been layering this stuff on. Man, you're so blessed. You're so loved. You're so accepted. And there's nothing you have to do for it. You can't lose it. God just loves you, and shows you, and blessed you, and saved you long before you did anything.

You don't behave to get God to like you, or bless you, or save you. He's already lavished all his love on you. And that's why he can get to this, and it's not legalistic or moralistic. Because he's saying you already have this new identity. Man, God will never stop loving you, but you'll have a richer life. You'll have a more joyful life, a more peaceful life. If you put on those new duds, you're not gonna stink. You know, the guys at the rescue mission, they were already clean. They were already off drugs. They'd already accepted Jesus. But their makeover changed so much about the quality of the life that they experienced. Their life quality began to match their new life identity.

You say, I still don't care. What are you talking about? If Paul's not specific, he's general. What do you mean, René? Well, guess what? Paul gives four quick examples. Put off this, put on that. Here's the four quick applications here. First, replace pretense with honesty. Take off the lies and put on the truth. Verse 25, so put off falsehood and speak truthfully. You know, just a quick audience poll here. How many, raise your hand if you've ever like caught yourself in a lie or an exaggeration if you've ever stretched your truth in your life. Can I see a show of hands? Wow, look around. And those of you who aren't raising your hands are lying now. So it's unanimous. We all struggle with this.

But you know what I was thinking? One area where we do engage in falsehood, listen carefully, is when we these days, it's kind of a new kind of a falsehood. We used to call it gossip, right? But here's the way the gossip thing happens these days. When we see something online that like outrages us or really catches our attention. Oh, it makes us so mad or we're so concerned. And so we forward it to everybody, you know, through Twitter or Facebook or whatever. And we don't even ask if it's true. Man, you know, that can be a lie. That can be slander. And it happens all the time. Let me show you something. You might've seen this. It happened last weekend and it kind of became viral. Satanic panic happens at Hobby Lobby over fake photos.

And here's what the article says. People are sharing images of what appear to be Satanic merchandise on the shelves of Hobby Lobby stores, outraged customers are vowing to boycott the company. And I found some Facebook posts that happened last weekend. Well, I guess even Christian owned companies can be bought for the right price, severely disappointed. I think we need to talk about what's going on at Hobby Lobby. Won't somebody please think of the children? And there's all these statues being sold of Satan on the shelves at Hobby Lobby. One major problem, the pictures are totally faked. But it sure was juicy. And so for a few days, it probably hurt the bottom line, hurt the employees and so on of Hobby Lobby. But it was a lie. MIT research shows fake news spreads faster than true news on Twitter, tweets containing falsehoods were 70% more likely to be retweeted than truthful tweets. Isn't that amazing?

Paul is saying that should be the way of the world, but we are different. Christians should be known as people who value truth and grace above anything. So like if there's anybody who's ever going to retweet a falsehood, the last person to ever do it are those Christians. I don't think that's the reputation we got right now. Now, the word here for falsehood means more than just lies. It also means pretense, being fake, putting up a front, wearing a mask, kind of personal image management. Like the message version puts this verse, no more lies, no more pretense, tell your neighbor the truth, in Christ's body, we're all connected to each other after all. What he's saying is church should be a pretend free zone.

You know, the first time I was ever in a 12-step group, I don't know if you've ever been in like an alcoholic, synonymous group or something like that, I was visiting to make a presentation for somebody, I think it was somebody to pin somebody for an anniversary of sobriety, and so I got to be a guest. And afterwards I thought, this has been the most powerful experience in my life. Why? People were so real. No masks. You might know that at the beginning, they go around the room, they introduce themselves with, "Hi, my name is so-and-so and I'm an alcoholic." In fact, the name of the meeting, it meets here every single week, the church was rigorous honesty. And I thought, man, if only we could do that at church, like every week, wouldn't that be awesome?

We don't have time to go around a room this size and go, "I'm so-and-so and here's what I struggle with, but wouldn't that be cool?" And so I thought, well, wouldn't it be awesome if like, when people came into church, there was just like something floating above their heads that said, "Hi, my name is so-and-so, I'm an alcoholic and addict," or you know what? I recently got divorced and my soul is hurt or I'm grieving a loss or I struggle with anxiety. You know why I'd love that? Because everybody would have something and you would never leave church thinking, "Well, they seem to all have it together, I guess I don't belong because everybody's being real. There's no pretense." And that's the point in this verse.

So I wanna make the last few minutes of this message, I wanna make super practical. And under each of these points in this part of the message, I'm gonna ask, "How do I apply this?" Like for this point, I will be real when I'm tempted to hide behind a mask this week. At some point this week, you're gonna be tempted to hide, to exaggerate, to wear a mask, commit today that, "No, I'm gonna be honest about my struggles, about where I'm at." And you know what? Watch God bless your life.

And then second Paul says, "Replace grudges with grace." Verses 26 and 27, again, I love the message version. Don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. Don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the devil that kind of foothold in your life. Let me ask you, who are you angry with? Anger, anger by itself isn't the problem. It's anger building bit by bit into resentment. Do you go to sleep angry? Do you build a case in your mind for why these people are unfair and mean? Do you even fantasize about getting even? Maybe it's family. Maybe it's some group of people that you're othering. Maybe it's the person you're sitting next to right now. I don't know who it is, but if you have this grinding resentment, it's ruining your life, not theirs.

So here's the application. Forgive someone I resent this hour. Now forgiveness is a process, but you can start this hour by asking God to help you. You say, "But they don't deserve it." Of course they don't. And you'll never be more like God than when you forgive somebody who doesn't deserve it. Third Paul says, "Replace stealing with generosity." You say, "But I don't steal, but it's the little things for most of us, right? Office supplies, time." Verse 28, "He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need." So here's the application. I will give to someone in need this week. So many opportunities for this.

Let me show you one, our People's Pantry. You might know we give out free groceries every Wednesday. This past Wednesday was one of our biggest Wednesdays ever. But right now we're in great need of donations. We get fresh fruit and veggies from Second Harvest Food Bank, but we're running low on basic staples like canned food, canned chili, tuna, chicken, grains like rice and oatmeal, and mac and cheese. If you need these things, come get 'em. Wednesdays at four. But if you can share, share a little. You know, my wife, when she goes grocery shopping, she'll often pick up some extra food items like this for the pantry, just as a habit. And then she brings them to church with her as part of her worship. You see the barrels in the lobby every single week. And this is a way that you can help.

And you know what, I just feel like, I see Robin who directs the People's Pantry over there. I see a couple of our volunteers here. I feel like we just need to give them all, the whole People's Pantry team a hand, because that's what it means to be like Jesus. When we share and we don't hoard. And then finally, there's a fourth application here that Paul gives us a general example. And this is the one that's most convicting for me. This is the one I don't really wanna cover. So can we just skip this? I see that my time is up. So let's just close in a word of prayer. Okay, number four is this. Replace words that harm with words that heal. Look at verse 29. Do not let any unwholesome talk. And the word unwholesome in the original Greek language literally means rotten, putrid, stinky, talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

This is just talking about the power of words. Words are such powerful things. And I'll prove it to you. Probably at some point in your past, like distant past, somebody might've said something to you, called you something. And it might be years later, it might be decades later, and you still remember it to this day. I mean, the first thing that pops to my mind is when I was in sixth grade, and I was nearly two years younger for a variety of reasons than a lot of the other kids in the class, so I was already like, this little kind of dweeby guy, and wasn't, feel super accepted in class. And I remember strategizing, how can I be accepted by the other children? And so I'm walking to class one day, and I had to cross the long athletic field to get to our sixth grade class. And I thought, if I walk there, balancing all of my books on my head, instead of a backpack or a bag, they can't help but be impressed.

And so I took all five books, and I stacked them on my head, and I walked across the whole field, just like, oh yeah, I'm gonna be king of the class. I will win my peers approval. And I'll never forget, I looked there, and I could see all the kids were starting to whisper to each other and look at me, and kinda point, I thought, here it comes, yes, finally. And as I got closer, I could see that one of the mean girls in class, and why are there always two or three mean girls? Well, the leader of the Mean Girls Pack, I still remember her name. Of course, I'm not gonna say it, Marilyn, but she was leading the other kids in a chant like this, and looking over her shoulder to see how badly it's hurting my feelings. And she's going, ♪ René is a flathead ♪ ♪ René is a flathead ♪ Everybody sing, ♪ René is a flathead ♪

(sighing) That happened like, I don't know, decades ago, and probably hundreds of times since then, I've looked in the mirror and thought, do I have a flathead? Some of you right now are asking yourself, does he have a flathead? I've lost you for the rest of the sermon. But maybe you heard some cruel words as a child too. Remember, the words that God speaks over you are beloved, forgiven, chosen, redeemed. And so let's speak those words, gospel words, over other people too. Very simple application for you that might change somebody's life if you do this. Write an encouraging note today. Don't wait. Text 'em, call 'em, send an email to a child, a family, a friend, a teacher.

But look at this list. I want you to notice a couple of things. First, notice that Paul does not sort of focus on that big headline sins that we tend to always condemn in other people. He's choosing garden variety stuff. You know, pretense, grudges, critical words. Why? Somebody said, it's not the mountain lions, it's the gophers that ruin the garden. And it's this kind of stuff that ruins relationships and that breaks God's heart too. Paul says, don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. It saddens God. And then finally, Paul wraps up this chapter with a whole bunch of things as if to say, guys, this isn't a complete list, but you get the idea, right? Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander along with every form of malice, that kind of stuff, right? Instead, be kind and compassionate. Here's the new duds to put on. The new clothes, the toga. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

And that right there is what keeps this from becoming a mere legalistic, moralistic message. In Christ God forgave you past tense. So again, you don't have to do all these things to get to heaven for him to save you and love you and bless you. He's already given you all that by grace, but you're acting in a way that reflects your new identity. Now let me wrap up with this. Here's the thing. Paul says, put off and put on. Say these four words, put off, put on with me. Put off, put on. Not just put on. This is very important. This just got me when I was looking at this week because most of us love the idea of getting new clothes, right? Who doesn't? The problem is our closets get stuffed with the new gear and all our old stuff too. Take it to the extreme, we can be like, I'm just gonna wear everything, right? And you're hardly able to move.

But this is a picture of where so many of us are at. Follow me spiritually. Probably everybody in this room wants to put on these things. Probably everybody in the world wants to put on these things. I mean, who doesn't? Oh yeah, but I don't wanna take off some of my old habits. I don't wanna get rid of that grudge. I don't know if I can let down my mask. I don't know. I don't know if I can give up that habit. I love it so much. And so we try to wear everything. And now you're wondering why you're finding it so hard to move forward, why your spiritual growth has stalled out. It's because you need to clean out the closet. You can't wear it all at the same time. You could put on the toga, but if you're wearing that year old tunic, you're still gonna stink.

And there's a giant object lesson right outside those doors that I'm gonna close with. When you drove onto campus today, you might have noticed a big hole where one of our buildings used to be. Our modular buildings have housed so many great ministries, our school and now our Sunday school classes and support groups and midweek classes, 12 step groups, our food pantry as I mentioned, but the buildings are falling apart. One even had to be condemned. And so a couple of weeks ago, a crew came in and removed it in very dramatic fashion. A giant excavator pulled it down. We couldn't even save anything. It had mold and dry rot and rust, so it had to go. And slowly over the next year, these will all have to be removed like this. Lord willing, they're gonna be replaced with a beautiful new building. A place where all those ministries can grow and flourish and thrive. That's much better than this old stuff.

But you know, we can't just build a new building on top of these old corroded portables. It wouldn't work, the new building would slip right off. They have to go first. Sometimes demolition comes before construction. Sometimes God has to remove things to improve things. Let me just repeat that. Sometimes God has to remove things to improve things. So the closing question to ask yourself, what has got to go for me to grow? Paul doesn't just say put on, he also says put off. Maybe for you it's a habit or an addiction or a worry or a grudge. You have sensed it already during this message. It's stalling out your spiritual growth. God is just asking you to take off rags so he can dress you in silk. So what has got to go for you to grow? Let's pray about it right now. Would you bow your heads with me?

With our heads bowed, I just wanna give you a chance to listen to the Holy Spirit directing you. What's got to go for you to grow? What have you been wearing underneath the new clothes God gave you? Lord, I pray that each one of us would be open to the leading of your Holy Spirit, not in a legalistic way, but just a holistic way, to look at our lives and think, what do I need to put off, to put on the new life and the new destiny you have for me? Thank you so much that we're chosen, adopted, saved, blessed by you entirely by grace. Now help us continually be made new in our minds to reflect our new identity. In your name we pray today, amen.