Ephesians 4:17-24
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, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ 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.
If you were to turn on any morning TV show and you’ll see them: The “new you” ads. New workout programs. New diets. New self-help strategies. “Be the better you!” they promise. Our culture is obsessed with the newest things. looking the newest and being part of the new “it” thing. We’re told that transformation is just one product, one program, one pill or one decision away. But here’s the truth: In Christ, you are already new.
When you’re in Christ, you are made new at the deepest possible level. In fact, there are eleven fundamental and life-altering changes that take place. Let’s walk through them together.
1. New Birth
“Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God'” (John 3:3)
To be born again as a new person with a new heart and a new nature means that at the deepest level, you have a new identity and a new passion for God’s will. The change is so deep that the Bible uses the language “born again.”
Throughout Scripture, you see people being renamed once they were regenerated, a tangible illustration of God’s internal work in their lives. Abram became Abraham. Cephas became Peter. Saul became Paul.
2. New Lord
Sin no longer dominates your life and its direction, Christ does.
Jesus isn’t just a theological concept. He’s risen, living, and reigns forevermore. Your new Lord loves you, forgives you, empowers you, cares for you, and lives in you.
Your new Lord defeated Satan and the power of sin. You no longer have to succumb to its pull. All the other things that once ruled your life no longer have any authority over you. Your new Lord has dethroned them all.
3. New Heart
Scripturally, the heart is the symbolic seat of our identity. The word “heart” appears some 900 times in Scripture.
Jesus says that lust, how we spend money, evil thoughts, immorality, murder, deceit, envy, slander, folly, grief, anxiety, malice, theft, and many other things all come from our hearts.
But when we’re in Christ and born again, the deepest parts of our hearts change, and we have new hearts for the things of God.
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
4. New Creation
As regenerated people, we are changed so deeply that the Bible refers to us as a “new creation.”
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
It’s by the work of Jesus and through the cross that we are made right, not our outward religious deeds and duties.
“For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:15)
5. New Mind
In Christ, God gives us a new mind to think as He thinks and love what He loves.
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16)
6. New Love
If we are born again, we’ll love others as Jesus loved.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7)
As a result, we have the capacity, if we walk in obedience to love God, our families, neighbours, coworkers, spouses, and even our enemies in the same way Christ loves!
7. New Desires
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Galatians 5:16-17)
As Christians, we desire God’s will and not our own because of the indwelling and transforming presence of God in our lives.
“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4)
8. New Community
As a regenerated people, we are forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God and to fellow Christians as the church.
This community is given multiple names in the New Testament: citizens of God’s kingdom, members of God’s family, parts of one body. The church as it gathers is meant to help us learn more about God and a life that glorifies Him, and to help others do the same.
You are welcomed in and have a new community in Christ!
9. New Power
God gives us supernatural power to live new lives. This power is the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus in John 14:26 refers to the Spirit as “the Helper” and in John 16:13 as our “teacher.”
Think of wind in the sail of a sailboat. It’s driven powerfully to its destination. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God helps us live holy lives and enables us to obey Him.
This is the opposite of religion! Religion says, “Change, and then you’re loved.” Jesus says, “I love you, allow My love to change you.”
You have new power in Christ.
10. New Freedom
Accompanying the new power is a new freedom. The ability to say no to sin and yes to God.
In this life, we will either have our backs to sin and faces toward God, or the reverse.
In Christ, you don’t have to hide your sin, deny it, or blame it on another. In Christ, it can be put to death, and you can experience freedom from the sin of the past and freedom from its future hold over you.
11. New Life
In Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul contrasts our old life apart from Christ with our new life in Christ.
Old life (Ephesians 4:17-19): Living in futility of thinking, darkened in understanding, separated from God, ignorant, hard-hearted, callous, given over to sensuality and impurity.
New life (Ephesians 4:20-24): Taught the truth in Jesus, putting off the old self, being renewed in the spirit of your mind, putting on the new self-created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
You have a new life in Christ! But we are not yet completely new. There is always more of God to be invested in us and expressed through us.
The culture around you will keep offering you a “new you” through products, programs, and empty promises. But the truth is this: you don’t need to become new. In Christ, you already are new.
The question is: Are you living in the reality of who you already are?
Of the changes listed today, which one do you most need to believe and embrace right now? Ask God to help you walk in the reality of that truth today.
