Together in Christ: 'This Is Not Christlike!' — Ephesians 4:20-22

Two of the things Paul made clear in His teaching about Jesus were these: the cost Jesus paid to redeem us from sin and what that means for our lives as His followers:

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. ^[1] . . . This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! ^[2]

As we seek to become more like Jesus, we want to continually throw off our old sinful nature corrupted by out-of-control desires and the devil's lies. Having been re-born as God's child, Jesus poured the Holy Spirit out on us and into us. ^[3] The Spirit works God's transformation in us as we throw off the old sinful nature and develop the fruit of the Spirit, ^[4] striving for full maturity in Christ. ^[5] Instead of living in the tattered and filthy rags of our past, we live into the future clothed in Christ as we become His presence in our world. ^[6] God wants us to know that we can leave our filthy rags of sin behind ^[7] and be clothed in the righteous of Christ ^[8] as we share His grace with the world that needs to know His love!