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Old Man / New Man

Mark Dunagan
10/22/17 - Sunday Morning

Old Man/New Man

“I see things with my own eyes, and I see things with his eyes too. He once owned them. These eyes! That is the terror of it. These gloved hands I now look at, steering the motorcycle down the road, were once his!” (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig, p. 91). In this book, the author is speaking of his former self or personality before he had a mental breakdown and underwent shock therapy. “Approximately 800 mills of amperage at durations of .05 to 1.5 seconds had been applied on twenty-eight consecutive occasions… a whole personality had been liquidated without a trace” (p. 91). He feels that another person once looked out of his eyes and that his hands once belonged to this former self. On a much deeper level, every child of God can somewhat identify with the concept of looking out of the eyes that once were used by a former self.

What We Once Were

• "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Ephesians 2:1-3).
• "For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another” (Titus 3:3)
• “So as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries” (1 Peter 4:2-3).

Huge Changes even for every Religious People

Some might think that it is hard to feel much different, if you were raised by Christian parents and never really got into any serious trouble before your baptism into Christ. Yet, I believe this is not the whole story. Paul appears to have been raised by good parents, had a very religious upbringing, and yet there is no indication that he had ever been a fornicator or drunkard and yet he had to change a lot.

• Prior to his conversion, Paul battled the sin of coveteousness (Romans 7:8). In coming to Christ, he had learned to be content in all his circumstances (Philippians 4:11).
• Not only that, but apart from Christ, his religious zeal found the wrong direction, and moved him to lash out against God’s people (Acts 26:9).
• Such misdirected zeal, turned him into a violent aggressor (1 Timothy 1:13-15). 

So, my conclusion is, that even for someone raised by Christians parents, who never gets into what some might term “serious trouble”, there are still big changes that need to be made in becoming a Christian and following Christ. I think of the apostles, who Jesus had to often correct because even though they were religious men, they were still thinking like the world on various subjects (Luke 22:24-26). Maybe another way to put it, is that, even when one is baptized rather young, by the time I realize that I have sinned and need the blood of Christ, the “old man” has already developed and has been alive for some time. Or, put another way, I never find the Bible talking about an old man that is difficult to kill and an old man that is rather weak and easy to kill.  With every human being, the old man will not surrender without a fight (Galatians 5:24).

The Reality of the Old Man

• “Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin” (Romans 6:6).
• “That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit” (Ephesians 4:22).
• “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices” (Colossians 3:9).

I find these passages helpful, because they remind me that the problem was not just a practice here or there that I needed to change. Rather, radical change was necessary. It was not that I was doing just a couple of things wrong, rather such sinful practices came from a self that was set against God (Romans 8:7). The old self thought a certain way, had definite priorities, held to a worldview opposed to truth, was self-absorbed and needed to be completely removed.

To Be Specific

• The old self lied (Colossians 3:9; Ephesians 4:25). Maybe not all the time, but the old self felt justified in lying on certain occasions, especially when the truth would make life uncomfortable. The old self typically holds to a situational ethic.
• The old self often justifies its anger that lashes out and hurts people (Ephesians 4:26). “They made me mad”.
• The old self is careless with its words and does not care about how others are affected by caustic remarks (Ephesians 4:29).
• The old self is not good when it comes to sharing (Ephesians 4:28).
• The old self tends to hold on to grudges, feeds the fires of resentment, replays slights over and over in its mind, enjoys contemplating revenge, is fond of playing the role of the victim, and is always the hero in the story it tells itself, never the villain (Ephesians 4:31).

The New Self

• While the old self was hard, the new self is tender. 

Observe in Colossians 3:8 the following terms that are used to describe the mindset of the old self, “anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth”. By contrast, observe the descriptive terms used to paint us a picture of the new man, “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you” (Colossians 3:12-13). When I look at that contrast, the word “hard” comes to mind. The Holy Spirit also used the term “callous” (Ephesians 4:19) as well as the term “hard” (Ephesians 4:18). Anytime we attempt to live apart from God, such will bring a natural hardening into our lives. We become less open to truth, more defensive, far more impatient with people, less willing to listen to constructive and needed criticism, hard in our tone, more guarded, more in love with our own theories than the truth and when we display compassion or other virtues it is more on our terms.

• While the old self was committed to self interest, the new self submits to Christ: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Colossians 3:15).

Observe the terms let and rule. The new man has put itself under new management, it has stepped down, actually fired itself, and it is not part of the new management. The new self wisely has recognized that the decisions being made by the old man were ruining the company (Ephesians 4:22). The new self is no longer the boss, rather the new self views itself as a servant and Jesus as the master (Galatians 2:20 “It is no longer I who live”).

• The old self was deceived (Ephesians 4:17-22), and the new self is walking in the light (Ephesians 4:23).

Observe the contrast between the terms futility, darkened, ignorance, hardness, callous, corrupted, lusts of deceit, and the terms renewed, righteousness and holiness of truth. The old man was eager to believe various false theories that enabled it to hide, justify or excuse its selfishness. It liked theories that kept on turning off the light switch so it could remain in the dark. The new man has a very rigorous mind that rejects anything that is not the truth, even if that truth is very inconvenient and demands a lot of change for the new man.

Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.net
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net