Walking Worthy of the Calling – Part II (7)

 

“…because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.” Ephesians 4:18c – 19.

 

In verses 4:17 – 19 we see that those who do not know Christ are living in “futility,” “darkness,” “excluded from the life of God,” “ignorance,” “hardness of heart,” “callousness,” “sensuality,” and the “practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.” While these words taken together paint a composite picture, each word and image also demands that we consider it on its own, for only when we understand each word and its image does the full composite texture come into play.

 

Note how verse 20 begins, “But you did not learn Christ in this way.” Well then, if we did not learn Christ in this way, but if we are nevertheless living in this way, then either we have forgotten what we were taught or we have a deficient foundation in Jesus Christ. Here is a warning, if we gloss over verses 17 – 19 and what follows, thinking that “this couldn’t possibly have any place in my life,” we not only ensure self-deception, we close ourselves off from the convicting and edifying work of the Holy Spirit in our souls.

 

Each of the words Paul uses in verses 17 – 19 have a deep Biblical context and if we think we can discover that context with a dictionary definition we are mistaken and will continue to be, for the most part, a people who are ten miles wide and a ¼ inch deep. Also, if we are reading these words without a sense of concern and warning, then it is quite possible that we are doing so because we see little, if any, distinction between the People of God and the culture of the world and its people. Can we please be clear about this, God’s People are to be holy for He is holy (1 Peter 1:13 – 16; 2 Cor. 6:14 – 7:1; Heb. 12:14; Matthew 5:8)? He who is ashamed of Biblical holiness is ashamed of the Biblical God.

 

What of this word “callous” in verse 19? Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:2 of those who, “…by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron…” Since the context of 1 Timothy is apostasy and those who listen to “deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,” this ought to warn us that callousness and having a seared conscience is something that we can find both within and without the professing church. The KJV translates the word for “callous” in Ephesians 4:19 as, “being past feeling”; when we are callous we do not feel, when we do not feel we are callous. When we are callous and do not feel we close ourselves off from God and most especially the conviction of the Holy Spirit. This ought to be a frightening warning.

 

As I hope we will see in this extended passage (Eph. 4:17 – 5:21), it is not only what we might think of as egregious sin that leads to this condition, sin as a way of life leads to this condition, adopting the ways of the world leads to this condition, sin that looks good (to our culture) leads to this condition…and for sure, justifying and making excuses for what is clearly sin leads to this condition. We are getting ahead of ourselves, but I do so want us to pay attention to God’s Word.

 

“and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.” (Eph. 4:19).

 

What might “sensuality” look like? Impurity? Greediness? Are our images of these things Biblical images? If I asked a Sunday school class, “What are the seven capital, or cardinal, or deadly sins?” what am I likely to hear? Probably a lot of guessing because people generally don’t know them or think about them. They are thought of as capital sins because they lead to other sins. Let’s look at the list:

 

1.    Pride

2.    Avarice (greed)

3.    Envy

4.    Wrath (anger)

5.    Lust

6.    Gluttony

7.    Sloth

 

What do these sins look like in society? What do they look like in the professing church? Think about them carefully, do not brush them off. Which of these sins have we elevated to idols, which of them are ingrained in our culture, both within and without the professing church?

 

What does gluttony look like in our lives? In the way we think about food? In our eating habits? In our advertising? What might our various food channels and recipe books look like to the starving peoples of the world? To people within our own nation who go to bed hungry? Are we honoring God in the way we eat, in the way that food affects our bodies?

 

What about pride? How does pride affect our relationships? Our Gospel witness? The way we think about God, others, and ourselves? How does pride affect the decisions we make, the way we treat our spouses, family, friends, and coworkers? How does pride affect our spending habits, our use of the resources God has given us for His glory and the blessing of others?

 

What about wrath? There is anger all around us, and we tend to justify it, it has become our way of life. We pride ourselves on “rants.” We drink the poison of talking heads and have become, like them, brute beasts spewing evil, yes evil, from the abyss. There is anger in our schools, anger in government, anger in retail stores, anger on the streets and highways (think of the way we drive), anger in our churches. Anger poisoning our hearts, minds, and souls – and we often take pride in it! We are fools.

 

Can we not see that the Seven Deadly Sins are killing us as a nation, and as the professing church? Look at them carefully. Spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, physically, they are killing us – or better yet, we are using them to kill ourselves, to commit mass suicide.  

 

The last one I’ll mention is avarice, greed. Our economy would implode if we stopped being greedy. We make most of our decisions with money and possessions as our arbiter. In other words, we have been conditioned to view life in terms of money and possessions, in terms of acquiring more and more and more. We do not evaluate life based on character, or virtue, or the way we serve God and others; our metrics are money, power, position, and possessions.

 

Take note, that with greed is covetousness and that covetousness is idolatry (Ephesians 5:5); and see the stark waring in this verse that such persons have no “inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Woe to those pastors and churches who explicitly teach greed and covetousness, and to those who implicitly endorse it; woe to those pastors and churches that never preach against the idolatry of covetousness and greed. Are we not an idolatrous people? Have we not supplanted with Cross with the Dollar Sign?

 

God is not interested in you possessing things or positions; God desires to possess you – at the end of your life this is all that will matter.