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I remember as a little boy listening one Sunday to a guest speaker at the church where I grew up in Norfolk, Virginia. The speaker was the famous author and Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer. He had come from Switzerland to speak. I can still remember him wearing his knickers and a tweed sportscoat as he stood to speak, but I do not remember anything he said. Later on in life, I read some of his bestselling books. On one occasion Schaeffer said, “Tell me what the world is saying today, and I’ll tell you what the church will be saying in seven years.”

Sad to say, his words seem to be right. In fact, a liberal pastor here in my community said some time ago that when culture changes, the church ought to change right along with it. What kind of testimony can we have in our world if we are not any different? And what kind of hope can we offer our world if the church is just as confused and corrupt as the culture around us?

The apostle Paul is about to challenge the Christian to be different—to act differently, to think differently—from the dark world around us.

As we sail back into Ephesians 4, Paul writes in verse 17, “I . . . testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.” He uses the term “Gentiles” to refer to unbelievers, who are characterized by a number of sinful things, which he lists here: futile thinking, hardness of heart, sensuality, greed. Then in verse 20, he says to his Christian readers, “But that is not the way you learned Christ.”

That is another way of saying, “You should know better! That is not what it means to live like a Christian! You have been given a new life in Christ.”

This new life involves two key practices. First, Paul says in verse 22, “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life.” This is what we could call the practice of refusal. Every day you are going to refuse your old way of living.

Second, we are not only to develop the practice of refusal; we are also to develop the practice of renewal. Paul writes that we must be “renewed in the spirit of [our] minds, and . . . put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (verses 23-24).

Think of it this way: As Christians we have taken off our old clothing, our old life; and we have put on new outfits, our new life in Christ. Every day when you get out of bed, you decide which outfit to wear.

This is the daily practice for the believer as he refuses the old patterns of sin and replaces them with new patterns of holiness. Keep this in mind, beloved; breaking bad habits is not just a matter of stopping them but also of replacing them with good habits that honor the Lord.

In verse 25 Paul says to put off lying and replace it with speaking the truth. Angry reactions might have been your old pattern, but Paul says here to put a limit on your anger—and what is that limit? “Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (verses 26-27). Do not let the devil take those seeds of anger and water them overnight so they sprout up even larger the next morning.

If stealing has been a part of your old life, Paul says to replace that with “labor, doing honest work with [your] own hands, so that [you] may have something to share with anyone in need” (verse 28). The old habit of stealing is replaced with a new habit of sharing.

Maybe you have had a problem with foul language in your old life. Paul writes, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths” (verse 29). “Corrupting” here means “rotten.” That sounds like my mother when I was growing up: “Stephen, don’t you dare use that rotten language.” This kind of language tears other people down, rather than builds them up.

Paul then writes in verse 30, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” As Christians, we need to recognize the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit in our lives. Everything we say, He hears; everywhere we go, He goes along for the ride. We cannot lose the Holy Spirit—we are sealed by Him for eternity—but we can sure grieve Him whenever we slip those old clothes back on again.

Paul then lists a number of sinful actions in verse 31 that we need to avoid: bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor/complaining, and slander. That is a closetful of old clothing not worth putting back on. Instead, get dressed up with kindness, tenderheartedness, and Christlike forgiveness toward others (verse 32).

You get the idea that while we are new people in Christ now that we have become Christians, we are still going to battle old temptations and the gravitational pull of sin back toward the old life.

Paul is not through. Practicing the art of refusal and the act of renewal is still on his mind. He writes in Ephesians 5:1, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children.” God is now your Father, so imitate your Father. The family resemblance should be growing on you over time, and it starts with Christlike love. Verse 2 says we are to love “as Christ loved us and gave himself for us.”

Paul contrasts this true love with selfish love. He writes that “sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you” (verse 3). One translation (NIV) renders it, “there must not be even a hint” of these sinful practices. And the same goes for any “filthiness . . . foolish talk . . . crude joking, which are out of place” (verse 4).

There is no room for off-color jokes and crude conversations. I am shocked today to hear crude jokes and off-color speech—even swearing—in our pulpits today. Those things are not laughing matters at all.

Here is why we must never make light of immoral behavior:

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. (verse 5)

You should not be laughing with them; you should be warning them. They are in eternal danger of the judgment of God. Paul says further in verse 7, “Do not become partners with them.” Yes, you are going to rub shoulders with immoral people in your daily life and at school and at work, but do not be drawn into their lifestyle. Do not compromise your witness by laughing at their vulgar jokes or listening to stories of their immoral escapades from the weekend.

Paul writes in verse 8 that while we were once in the same spiritual darkness as these people, we are now “light in the Lord” and should “walk as children of light.”

In fact, beloved, by comparison the purity of your life serves to expose as evil the deeds of those who are still in darkness. Paul tells us in verse 12 that we should consider it shameful to even speak of the things that they do in secret. We do not even want to talk about that old life anymore. Our appetites have changed. In fact, our idea of fun has changed completely.

We are now the light in this world, which means we are no longer like this world anymore. So, here is the question: Seven years from now, are we going to look and talk and act like the world does today? Or will we be distinctively different as we shine the light of God’s truth in our dark world?