I have this habit that whenever I'm told to open up to a specific passage of Scripture my eyes wander to the context of that passage. The great thing is, I'll tell you if you're pulling it out of context. The bad thing is, sometimes I get so distracted by the context that I don't hear what you're saying. ;p

Tonight we opened up to Ephesians 4:17-24. How many times have I heard this passage? A lot. It feels like I can just spit back the verses in a monotone, brainless fashion from hearing them so often: "put off your old self...put on the new self." It's a basic concept, hard to approach with a fresh mind, right? Well, not tonight. :)

Read alone, the passage paints the picture of someone who has a hard and calloused heart, someone who gives in to greed impurity and deceitful desires. In contrast you have someone renewed through the truth of Christ that creates a likeness in righteousness and holiness. Which is all true.

Oh but now take a closer look at the context...

Chapter four begins with the unified body of Christ; "bearing with one another in love," "eager to maintain," "bond of peace," "building up the body," "unity of the faith," and so on until it's climax. In verse sixteen it concludes, "when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." It's about a community that constantly encourages, a community that holds one another together.

Now it opens up into the passage about what the old self looks like; futile, darkness, alienation, ignorance, calloused hearts... It is the picture of an individual. And an individual who gives in to impurities and deceit. So we are urged to put on this new self that is like God.

Now take a look at the rest of the chapter; Ephesians 4:25-32. Verse twenty-five kicks it off perfectly "Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another."

It continues on telling us to set aside previous sins, such as anger, thievery, and slander. All sins that tear each other down and obliterates any community. Instead "doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need." And only talk "as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

These two passages properly bookend a passage of contrast between the old self and the new self. While the specific passage in verses seventeen through twenty four may not specifically lay this out, it certainly is an overall concept of the chapter...

The old self is an individual walking in darkness and stumbling in darkness. The renewed self is one who is part of a bigger picture that is the body of Christ; a community. Being a Christian is not about being an individual rightly living for God, it is about being part of a group of people rightly living for God.

So often we hear that 'being a good little Christian' is about behaving this way, living that way, and be nice to those around you. But how accurate is that? Looking at this chapter for what it is (and I assure you it does not stand alone in the scheme of the Bible) being a Christian is not about being an individual. Not even a good individual. It is, however, about being a part of something; something that strengthens, something that urges each other on, something that builds each other up...something called community.

Outside of Christ we are lonely. And in that loneliness we become calloused and give in easily. But in Christ we find community. And in that community we become resistant because we have help from one another.

Now that is a picture worth painting, and a distraction worth having. O:)

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