CLOTHES THAT SHOULD NOT BE WORN, THAT SHOULD BE WORN

            <Ephesians 4: 22-24>

 There are three basic things that humans need for survival.  They are clothes, shelter, and food.  Humans need to wear clothes, eat food, and live under a shelter in order to live.  If people were asked to choose the most important one of the three, then most people would probably choose ‘food.’  This is because under right circumstances, humans can survive without shelter or clothing.  But humans cannot survive without food.

 But the thing that separates us from animals is the fact that we wear clothes.  ‘Clothes’ is the one thing that makes us different from animals that roam the wild.  Animals eat and live in shelters, like we do.  Yet, they do not have the ability to make and wear clothes.  Making and wearing stylish clothes is an activity that only we can do.  From the fig leaves that Adam and Eve wore as human’s first-ever clothing to the synthetic polyester fabrics of today, clothing for humans have gone through many great changes.

 A man named Youngjae Lee, who spent over 30 years of his life tailoring men’s suits, once wrote a book called Clothes Make the Man in 2001.  His book became a source of great interest.  Lee casts away the idea that clothes are mere expressions of style, fashion, or fad.  It is true that nice clothes make us seem more elegant and stylish.  Yet, Lee argues that clothes have a lot to do with people’s health.  When making, or tailoring clothes, Lee stresses that one must take into account such factors as body shape, health conditions, occupation, and the environment in which one lives in. 

 For example, Lee recommends thin people to wear clothes that use heavier fabrics with volume, with bright and lusterless (not glossy) colors.  For heavier set people, he recommends clothes with buttons atop the abdomen and loose fitting in shoulders and hips.  For those with wide hips, he recommends clothes that widen the shoulders.

 More interestingly, men with small noses can balance this flaw with big and strong knotted ties.  In his book, Lee tells us how to wear clothes that highlight our physical strong points and hide the weak points.  Lee’s main point is that only when clothes are designed after taking all factors into consideration, will it truly enhance the wearer’s elegance and sense of style while making one healthier.

 Dirty and ugly clothes make us impure.  Uncomfortable clothes can eat away our health.  Like the Korean phrase ‘clothes are wings’ implies, beautiful clothes make us beautiful on the outside.  Comfortable clothes make us healthier.  The reason for sports apparel industry boom and worldwide adoption of today’s fashion is emphasis on comfort and beauty in clothing.

 We change our clothes every day.  When we go to work, we dress in suits and ties.  But when we return home, we change clothes.  We change into something that is more comfortable.  No one wears suits in bed.  Most people wear pajamas.  During winter, we put away our short sleeved shirts and wear long sleeved shirts.  Wearing right clothes for different occasions is an important factor for maintain our health and leading our lives.

  But the clothes we wear tell other people something about ourselves such as our occupation, or perhaps our social status.  Who normally wears white gowns?  Doctors, nurses, or someone who works in the medical field usually wear white gowns.  Or it could be scientists who work in a laboratory.  Who normally wears black gowns?  Judges or someone who works in courts, and pastors often wear black gowns.  Policemen wear police uniform, and soldiers wear their uniforms.  Our clothes reveal a lot about our occupation and status.

 Through Jesus Christ, God has called us to become Christians.  Then what clothes must we take off in order to become healthy Christians?  What clothes should we wear?  If our clothes tell others our occupation and social status, then what clothes must we wear to tell the world that we are Christians?

 In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul gives the answer to the above questions.  Paul tells Christians to take off and throw away the heavy, uncomfortable clothing listed below.

  1.  Clothes that should be taken off = the old self which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (verse 22)

 Ephesians is a letter that Paul wrote while in Roman prison.  It is a letter sent to the Ephesians, the pagans who came to believe in Jesus and were later baptized.  More specifically, Ephesians is known as a circular letter that was sent to the many Christians who were scattered throughout Asia Minor.  It is a letter meant to be read by those Christians who were at risk those who converted after living in societies that did not believe in God, and had the possibility of reverting back to their old habits of not believing in God.  Ephesians, then, is a letter sent to those Christians who were at risk of reverting back to their old ways.

 Because he had spent 3 years as a missionary in Ephesia, Paul knew all too well the risks of the Ephesian Christians (see Acts 20: 31).  Ephesians always carried the risk of going back to their old pagan ways.  Ephesia, established in 11^th century BC, was the political, economic, cultural, and transportation center of Asia Minor.  It was a region also full of pagan worships.

 The object of Ephesian people’s worship, Artemis (Diana), was a mother-goddess that represented abundance and prolific births (see Acts 19: 23-41).  The temple of Artemis (Diana) is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, being 128 meters long, 66 meters wide, with 127 pillars that are 18 meters in height.  The goddess Artemis (Diana) and her temple became a crucial element of Ephesian every-day life, being closely linked to their politics, economy, society, and culture. 

 These Ephesians, who had previously believed in pagan gods, had to be on their toes as Christians in order to avoid going back to their old days.  Paul is teaching us to boldly throw away this old habit and clothing of pagan worship.

 Ephesian Christians also had lived in the midst of moral corruption.  Ephesia was a city that boasted many theaters.  Some theaters were big enough to accommodate over 24,000 people.  What do you think happened in these theaters?  All kinds of low-class performances, violent duels, and lewd shows probably took place.  Furthermore, a big market called Agora teemed with greedy merchants who stopped at nothing to make a profit.

 The Ephesian region was full of lewdness, corruption, swindle, temptation, greed and all types of immorality.  Some of the people who lived in this type of environment converted to Christianity, but they still had the risk of going back to their previous environment.  So Paul is asking these people to boldly throw away the clothing of their old habits.

 Our bad habits of the past corrupt and delude us through lust.  We can no longer afford to be tripped up by lust.  We can no longer afford to be deluded.  We must throw it all away!  We must cleanly get rid of all our bad habits that we had before we started believing in Christ.  We must throw it all out, like getting rid of old clothes.

 Then what are the clothes that we must wear now, within Jesus Christ?

 2.  The clothes we must wear = the new self who was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness (verse 24).

 Before telling us to throw away the old clothes and wear the new ones, Paul states in verse 23 of today’s scripture, “be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”  In order to throw away all our bad old habits, we must first be renewed in spirit.  Having the old spirit and old mentality will not allow us to become renewed.

  When we put aside our summer clothes and take out our winter ones, we do it with a renewed state of mind.  We often think to ourselves, ‘the hot summer has passed and the cold winter is upon us.’  We change our clothes with a renewed state of mind, often with a vow to start our lives anew.  Likewise, in order for the old man to throw away his clothes and become a new man, he must first become renewed in spirit.

 When our spirits are renewed, our mentality changes.  As our way of thinking changes, so do our actions.  Change in actions brings about change in habit.  And when our habits change, our lives change.  So, in order to change our lives, we must first change our spirits and the way we think.  As long as our spirits are not renewed, then we will not be able to wear the clothes of the new man.

  When our spirits and hearts change for the better, then we can wear the clothes of the new man.  According to verse 24, this cloth is “the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”  This is a newly tailored clothes, according to God.  It is not of our own doing!  It is a gift that we can only receive when God enters into our hearts.  These are clothes that are made according to God, a holy garment that was made through righteousness and true holiness.

 Then what does wearing these new clothes mean?  It means that we can no longer live as we have in the past, being led by our greed and temptations.  In the past, we desired to live in a bigger house, drive a nicer car, become more famous, and wield more power than others.  We can no longer live that way when we put on our new clothes!  Now we must constantly ask the question, ‘is this in accordance with God’s righteousness and true holiness?”

 Verses after Ephesians 4: 25 lists the types of clothes that the old man wears and the new man wears.  Clothes of lies, clothes of sinful anger, clothes that gives place to the devil, clothes of corrupt communication, clothes that grieve the Holy Spirit, and clothes of all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking must all be thrown away.  In their place, clothes of truth, clothes of kind words, clothes of benevolence, clothes of mercy, clothes of forgiveness, and clothes of love must be worn!

  Colossians 3: 5 and 8 also lists ten types of clothes we must throw away.  We must take off the clothes of fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, and idol worship.  We must also take off the clothes of dirty words, of anger, wrath, malice, and blasphemy.  In Colossians 3: 12, five types of new clothes that Christians must wear are listed.  We must change into the clothes of tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and long suffering. 

 In Pauline theology, the term ‘putting off and putting on clothes’ have baptism connotations.  In the early church, people took off their clothes and wore a baptism gown before going in water.  Just as the newly baptized takes off the old clothes and wears the new ones, with baptism the old self dies and new self is born!

 The phrase ‘taking off the old clothes and wearing new ones’ means changing our character, nature, and will through Jesus Christ.  Those who have not changed on the inside and merely changed on the outside cannot be considered a beautiful person, no matter how fancy clothes he puts on.  We become truly beautiful when we wear the new clothes of our insides our spirits and hearts.  Throw away your old clothes of this world and wear the holy clothes of God.  Let other people see the new you.

  Let’s conclude.  Take a look at verses 22 and 24 again.  Old clothes and new clothes are vividly contrasted.  We must first throw away the clothes of the old man.  These are clothes that we wore when we did not know about God and lived according to our desires.  These old clothes “grow corrupt according to deceitful lusts.”  We must throw away these clothes.

 We must wear the clothes of the new man.  These are clothes of the new life, as we have learned about Jesus Christ and have decided to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  These clothes were “created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.”  We must wear these clothes!

  Which clothes are you wearing today? 

  Clothes of the old man?  Or the new man? 

  ​Those of you with the old clothes, throw them away at this moment! 

  ​Those of you with the new clothes, wait for the advent of Jesus and keep wearing those clothes!  Amen.