Who Are You Wearing?

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,  
and arise from the dead,  
and Christ will shine on you.”  

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 4:17-5:21

This weekend, our church family had the privilege of leaning in and lingering long with the subject of “God’s Grace in Our Fellowship.” Through preaching and teaching, singing and praying, listening and talking, our hearts were stirred and filled with gratitude. The Lord set a table for us, and we feasted. At the end of such a weekend, we can feel overwhelmed by the amount of content and the pace of life. We experienced so much beauty…how do we not miss it? In these moments, we’re wise to remember what John Piper wrote in Don’t Waste Your Life:

“You don’t have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world. But you do have to know the few great things that matter, perhaps just one, and then be willing to live for them and die for them. The people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by one great thing.”

We don’t need to remember everything David Gibson shared with us in three sermons. But we should search for one great thing that God could use to transform us more into the image of Christ. May I attempt to boil that one thing down into a question?

                                                “Who are you wearing?”

This is the question Dr. Gibson shared with us on Saturday morning as he began to unfold God’s Word from Ephesians 4:17-5:21. In this passage, the Lord gives us the powerful image of wearing Christ, of putting off the old man or woman and putting on the new self, which is being remade in the image of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:22-24). This understanding of the Christian life has the potential to get traction in our lives because it is so down-to-earth. Each morning we wake up and ask, “What will we wear today?” We must take off the clothes that make no sense in light of the day’s obligations and put on the clothes that are appropriate for the task. It’s hard to think of a more practical question than, “What are you wearing today?”

The Bible reminds us that ever since Adam sinned, we’ve struggled to dress appropriately for the life God has for us. Adam tried to clothe himself. He reached for fig leaves to cover his fear, shame, and guilt. God knew that that was like a Band-Aid on a bullet hole, so through costly sacrifice, “the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). The Lord did not want Adam and Eve to wear the garments they could fashion for themselves. He wanted them to wear the clothes that only He could make for them. We see here in the beginning the seed of the clothing metaphor that comes into full bloom in the New Testament.

To put it simply: Our wardrobe options are limited. We can only ever wear two people: ourselves or the Lord Jesus Christ. When we wear ourselves, life is about us: our beliefs, our rules, our kingdom, our way, our pride. We don’t think too much about what this wardrobe looks like, because it feels so comfortable to us. It’s all we’ve ever known. But when the Lord Jesus enters the picture, it becomes clear that a change of clothes is not only necessary, but desirable. Jesus lived the perfect life of goodness, truth, and beauty. He died on the cross to pay the price for all the ways we fall short of that life, and He rose again so that we might be clothed in Him, dressed and ready for an altogether new life. When we come to Jesus by faith, we can imagine Him looking at our old self and saying, “Brother, sister, let me take that from you. You don’t need to wear that anymore. I have something better for you.” By God’s grace, we put off the old self and put on the new. We stop wearing us and start wearing Christ. This happens decisively when we come to the Lord Jesus by faith, and then it happens regularly, daily, moment by moment as we live in Him.

Church, WHO are we wearing as we walk through this life? Are we still wearing ourselves, or have we put on Christ? Has the beauty of Jesus’ new wardrobe (truth, righteous anger, generosity, edifying speech, kindness) begun to overshadow our old rags (falsehood, selfish anger, theft, foolish talk, hostility)? Have we died to the old life of self-promotion and awakened to the wonder of imitating God (Ephesians 5:1) as we walk in love, light, and wisdom (Ephesians 5:2, 8,15)? Are we learning to put on Christ, even if these clothes don’t quite seem to fit? Are we trusting that we’re not just pretending, but that in time, we’ll grow into these new clothes as we grow up in Christ? And are we filled with gratitude, “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20)? How could we not when we realize that Jesus loved us and gave Himself up for us? That we get to wear HIM! That we get to put on Christ together and be transformed from glory to glory until the Day when He comes and we see Him face to face.

Who are we wearing? By God’s grace, if we’ve put on Christ, may we wear Christ and experience His grace in our fellowship…and share that grace with the world.