Philippians 2 v 5

1. Philippians 2 v 5 • Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. • God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his son. • Romans 8 v 29

2. Ephesians 4 v 24 • You were… created to be like God, truly righteous and holy. — • Take on an entirely new way of life – a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces His character in you.– Ephesians 4:22-24 • In contrast to the purveyors of prosperity teaching God’s ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development. 

3. You were created to become like Christ: Ephesians 4:17-32 • Ephesians 4 v 24 says ‘Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness’ • Recognise what we shall be - our future (4:12-16, 30) • Repudiate what we once were - our past (4:17-19) • Respond to what we are becoming - our present (4:20-30)

4. 1. Recognise what we shall be - our future (4:11-16) • In these verses we have a glorious vision of our future. • “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12-13)

5. Then he says ‘Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching, and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.’ • “equip God’s people for works of service”. • How do we become like Jesus? First, by recognising what we were created for - growing up. “to become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13) 

6. 2. Repudiate what we once were - our past (4:17-19) • “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” (Ephesians 4:17-19)

7. The Bible warns, • "Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out.... Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you" • (Romans 12:2 Message).

8. 3. Respond to what we are becoming - our present (4:20-30) • “You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. … (Ephesians 4:20-21) • In Acts 4 notice the effect the Apostles had on the Jewish leaders. • “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”(Acts 4:13)

9. 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. EPHESIANS 4

10. Jesus is our curriculum • Jesus is our teacher  • Jesus is our model

11. 1. Recognise your future - what we will be, • 2. Repudiate your past - where we have come from • 3. Respond to what we are becoming, in and through Jesus.