Before we begin this weekend, I need to share a brief note about our study. My family has a big family weekend with two graduates. Our study will resume on Monday.

Ephesians 4:17-19

Now that Paul has established that we are all a part of building up Christ’s church just as each part of our body is used to build it up, he goes on to give practical insight into our behavior.

Verse 17 begins with Paul testifies in the Lord meaning that it isn’t his words, but those of our Lord. What he has to say is important. Our walk, our lives are to change from what we were. The term Gentiles is used here. In looking at commentaries, it can mean pagans, a group of people, or simply non-Jews. In the context here, my thought is that it would be a group of pagans, i.e. non-believers.

Look at how we walked before we met Christ:

• darkened in understanding
• alienated from the life of God through ignorance and hardness of heart (wow… that is just a scary place to be)
• past feeling (Would this be apathy?)
• lascivious (promiscuous)
• greedy to do everything unclean (wanting more and more and more)

That is a pretty grim picture. I think we can see how it would affect even our life as home-bound individuals, especially being darkened in our understanding. It is so easy to see our suffering through eyes of the here and now and discomfort instead of what God is doing and who God is.

Yet, there is hope as Paul tells us that is how we walked before. Now, we don’t walk that way. Our lives have changed. In the coming days, we will see what our new way of life is. I look forward to getting into the “new life.”