Why You Should Learn Christ and Understand It's Not Jesus Last Name

In chapter four of his letter, learning Christ is Paul’s warning to the church at Ephesus. Have you ever considered what it means to learn Christ? Well, for one, learning Christ is about learning His actions. One writer spoke to this in a dramatic and insightful piece. The writer is unknown, but his words are living. Listen to them now. He came from splendor to be born in poverty. He left the presence of angels for the company of me. He laid down a scepter in heaven to be laid in a manger and exchanged the worship of Archangels for the praise of lowly shepherds. He walked into the world with all the power of Almighty God at his bidding, but he was carried out a mutilated body lowered from a cross.

He rebuked the pious, but he comforted the sinner. He refused earthly Kingship, although he was still a King. He loved his mother yet gave her away at the Cross. He healed the broken-hearted, yet he died with a broken heart. He loved the fellowship of friends yet was cast out by his kinsmen. He rebuked both sage and seer, then blessed the little children. He held an executive meeting on the Mount of Transfiguration, then wept alone in the Garden of Gethsemane. He could walk on water but could not walk away from the tears in the eyes of the Widow from Nain. He could command the stars in their orbits, but he refused to change the circumstances of his own execution. His mission was a commitment to free all men, yet he was imprisoned on the testimony of one man. He delivered many from pain, but he was delivered to suffer agonizing pain. He dried the eyes of multitudes, but no one dried his eyes in Gethsemane. He carried the world’s burdens, but only one was brought forth to help him bear his Cross to Calvary. His execution was considered insignificant but became the controversy of the ages. His life was extinguished in a brief second of time but then ignited to lighten the world. His short span of thirty-three years on Earth should have passed unnoted was it possible, but no one life has ever had such an impact on the minds of men. His three and one-half years in the public eye were brief indeed, but his achievements are the greatest ever recorded. He has inspired more men, conquered more hearts, delivered more prisoners, and consoled more mourners than any figure in the history of man. He spoke of love but was murdered with hate. He shared all he had, then on the Cross, he shared paradise with a thief. He gave the World light, only to be driven into the cavern of Death. He gave mankind guidance, only to be guided to Golgotha. He pointed men to the Tree of Life; they nailed him to a tree on a hill called the Skull. He laid down a scepter in heaven, to be laid in a borrowed tomb. He walked out of heaven, pure, perfect, and beautiful. He returned beaten, mutilated, and nail-scarred. He fulfilled all that was written of him, yet man did not believe Him. His coming changed the course of nations; his return will be to judge the nations. His title was simple, as stated on the Cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews,” but to those who have ever known him, He is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.¹ This Jesus, who is called the Christ, is our focus today. Why You Should Learn Christ and Understand It’s Not Jesus Last Name, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This week’s call is:

Learn Christ Ephesians four style, that is, know what that means and how it changes your everyday life.

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Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
This week’s question is:

This week’s question involves learning Christ. Who taught you Christ? Please share your testimony in the comments section below.

Episode Resources

1. We are currently teaching in the book of Ephesians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is their mission’s focus and the hallmark. Read more about them here.

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Podcast Notes

Learning Christ

We just came out of a portion of scripture in Ephesians four where Paul references the dark life that we used to live when we were separated from God.
We talked about different kinds of life.

Matthew 10:38–39 (AMP) — 38 And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conforming wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also] is not worthy of Me. 39 Whoever finds his [lower] life will lose it [the higher life], and whoever loses his [lower] life on My account will find it [the higher life].

The lower life, the anti-abundant life, is the one Jesus does not want us to live.
We saw that those who choose to live this dark life, walk in the futility of the mind.
They have their understanding darkened and are alienated from the life of God because of inward ignorance.
We understood that they were hardhearted, calloused, and full of sensuality.
And that they exhibit greediness to practice impurity.
But after laying all this out, Paul gathers all of this negative behavior into one nice, neat statement.

Ephesians 4:20–24 (ESV) — 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Now, Paul starts another section.
Listen to this next section starting at verse twenty-five and taking it all the way to verse thirty-two.

Ephesians 4:25–32 (ESV) — 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

So, Paul talks about believers not lying.

Ephesians 4:26 (ESV) — 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

He talks about being angry so that it doesn’t lead to sin.

Ephesians 4:27 (ESV) — 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.

Paul then says don’t give any ground to the enemy.
Next, he talks about stealing.

Ephesians 4:28 (ESV) — 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Next up is corrupt communication.

Ephesians 4:29 (ESV) — 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Next, grieving the Holy Spirit is in Paul’s heart.

Ephesians 4:30 (ESV) — 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Follow that up with bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander.
That’s verse thirty-one.

Ephesians 4:31 (ESV) — 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Paul finishes with a positive ‘to do’ — all of the previous is what not to do.

Ephesians 4:32 (ESV) — 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

But, right in the middle of these two sections where the Spirit of God encourages us on how not to live comes this break with these words: But that is not the way you learned Christ!
So, if you see believers engaged in negative areas, know that it’s not the way you learned Christ.

Learning Christ Is Unique

The words ‘learned Christ’ that Paul uses here are unique.
Ephesians four is the only time this phrase is used in the New Testament.
The Greek word ‘learn’ is our focus today, and with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
The word learn means to acquire skills or knowledge.
It means gaining knowledge or skill by instruction and learning absolute²
So, coming to Jesus is not just a matter of believing.
Learning Christ is not just what you believe — it’s how you live.
Right belief and right conduct are marriage partners.
When I gave my heart to Jesus, someone had to tell me that sex outside marriage was wrong.
I remember the gentleman that told me.
He is no longer on planet earth, but I thank God that through Him, I learned Christ.
With that thought, here is the Illustration of the Day.

In the spring of 1995, revival broke out on many college campuses across America. One characteristic of this visitation from God was students dealing with sinful habits that they had previously let linger in their lives. Bonne Steffen interviewed several of the students for the Christian Reader; one student named Brian at Asbury College said: I was a leader on campus. We had invited Wheaton students to come and share. At first, I was praying for other people, but then I began to think about my own struggles. I stood in line for three hours with one of my best friends all the time thinking, ‘How can I get up here and admit I’m less than perfect?’ But I also realized that being on a Christian campus isn’t protection from the world. I have really struggled with lust. I found I wasn’t alone. It was an issue for a lot of others. Personally, I wanted the chain to be broken; I wanted that stuff out of my life. If it meant no magazines, no television, I was willing to eliminate them. Several of us signed a paper stating our desire for purity, which we put in a box and placed on the altar. I’m still accountable to other people. My deepest desire is to be pure in my heart and thoughts. As this student shows, the desire for purity is the beginning of purity. Purity comes when we pursue it actively and forcefully.³

Now we know that this piece about learning Christ deals with conduct because the statement sits right smack dab in the middle of admonitions to live clean.

What Learning Christ Does Not Mean

Now notice what the writer said about ‘learning Christ.’

But that is not the way you learned Christ!

Don’t put the word ‘from’ in there.
By the Spirit of God, Paul did not say, ‘But that is not how you learned from Christ!
You are learning about Him, not from Him.
This is a different kind of learning than what we hear Jesus talking about in Matthew.

Matthew 11:29 (ESV) — 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

In Matthew, we learn from Him — in Ephesians, we learn about Him.
Christ is the object of the learning, not the source of the learning.

Christ Is Not Jesus’ Last Name

Now again, take note that you learned Christ — not you learned Jesus.
This is a vital distinction.
The word Christ is not Jesus’ last name.
My last name is Horvath.
That’s my surname.
Christ is not Jesus’ surname.
Jesus’ last name, technically, is ‘of Nazareth.’
People didn’t have surnames in the first century.
They were designated by their first name and the town they were born in.
So, Jesus is Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God’s earthly name.

Matthew 1:18 (ESV) — 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.

Some manuscripts say Jesus ‘of the Christ.’ The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016).

Matthew 1:18 (ESV) — When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

His name is Jesus of Nazareth.
That’s how they distinguished this Jesus from the other seventy people named Jesus who lived around the same time.
So, what is it with the word Christ?
Well, I am glad you asked.
The word ‘Christ’ is Greek.
That’s right; they left this Greek word untranslated in the New Testament.
So, when you read Jesus Christ in your Bible, you are reading one English word, and one Greek word put together.
If they went ahead and translated the word into English from Greek, the word Christ means anointed one.
One gentleman said you could translate the Word Christ as the anointed one and His anointing.
To get a feel for what this is like, a Greek word left untranslated, what if we went ahead and did the same thing for a Greek word from a well-known verse of scripture?
What if we didn’t translate the Greek and just left it in your English Bible?

Learning Christ: Zoe

John 10:10 (ESV) — 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Now, that’s all English.
But what if I didn’t translate the word life?

John 10:10 (ESV) — 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have ZOE and have it abundantly.

Same concept.
Zoe is the Greek word for life in this passage.
You would be quoting this verse about ZOE, and nobody would know what you’re talking about.
You must know how to translate Zoe to make sense of this verse.
When people use the word Christ, it’s the same thing — they don’t know what they are talking about — because the Greek word has not been translated.
So, we are to learn Christ.
Which means there are lessons about Christ in the school of Christ.
And those lessons don’t include sensuality or greed.
It doesn’t include hard-heartedness or impurity.
That’s now how you learned Christ.

Learning Christ: Putting Off Your Old Self

Let’s reread this and note some other things.

Now notice part of the lessons that you are learning about Christ.
Part of the lesson is that you learned to put off something, and you learned to put on something.
You learned to put off your old self.
You also learned to put on your new self.
So, we are talking about the old man and the new man.
We are talking about the unregenerate man, and we are talking about the born-again man.
You put off the old, and you put on the new.
Colossians, the sister book to Ephesians, has similar language.

Colossians 3:9 (ESV) — 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices

Learning Christ: How Do You Put Off the Old and Put on the New?

If you notice, there is a fulcrum between the two.

23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

So, put off the old — be renewed in the spirit of your mind — put on the new.
Mind renewal is part of the equation.
Now, the Greek word ‘renewed’ is something you want to take note of.
The word is ANANEOO (ann-ann-neh-oh’oh).
It’s a Greek compound word formed by the word ANA and NEOS.
ANA means to repeat or do over again.
NEOS means “youthful or young.”
So, you can interpret “Renewed in the spirit of your mind” as “Think young.”⁴
So, putting on the new requires new thinking.
It requires you to ‘think young’ and not to think in the old ways of your former life.
Part of putting off the old man is putting off the old thought patterns.
Don’t think in the old ways of your old life.
The mind has opinions based on its time in the world’s culture.
Now when I say ‘mind’ — be renewed in the spirit of your mind, I am not saying the brain is what is affected.
The mind works through the brain — not the other way around.
Your mind is what needs to be renewed.
The brain is a physical organ, just your physical heart.
There is a physical heart, and there is a spiritual heart.
There is a physical brain, and there is a spiritual mind.
The mind is affected by the state of the heart.
When you were ‘dead in trespasses and sins,’ you thought death.
Your mind was programmed from the death inside of you.

Romans 8:6 (ESV) — 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

So, the mind follows the state of the heart.
If you are dead to sins and alive to God, your mind is full of life and peace.
If it’s the other way around, you experience death in your earth experience even though you are walking around breathing air.
So, it’s one thing to live; it’s another thing to be dead while you live.
Now, I’m talking extremes here — the born-again man — the unborn man; life and death — light and darkness — extremes.
But listen to Romans 8:6 once more.

For to set the mind on the flesh is death…

We have another component, the flesh.
The flesh is the sin nature that’s resident in your body.
Listen to this language now in Romans six.

Romans 6:6 (ESV) — 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

There is the old self, and there is the body of sin.
The body of sin is the flesh.
Let’s pull this all together.
When you were operating as a lost person on planet earth, you were dead on the inside and that death trained your body in the ways of sin.
Now here you are; you gave your life to Jesus.
You’re born again — that was an inside job.
Your spirit became a new man in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) — 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The old man has passed away.
But you still have the body of sin to deal with.
You may have certain habits, you may have lusted after the wrong kinds of things, and your flesh is sensitized to these ways.
Now you must be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
You must think young.
You must think in the new ways of God.
And say no to your urges.

2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV) — 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

You have self-control from God.
He gave you the ability to say no — to deal with the body of sin.
You couldn’t do that before because your spirit, the control center, was all messed up.
Now your spirit is new.
Your spirit is growing and strong because you feed on God’s Word.
Jesus said the words that I speak to you are spirit and life.
You have life in you, and you are feeding on life.
Guess what? — that produces life.
So, think young — think in the new ways of God — think God’s thoughts and God’s ways.
Gang up on the body of sin.

Ephesians 4:25 (KJV 1900) — 25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Notice Paul tells you to put off lying.
Speak the truth.
That means you can do it — you have that ability, and now you know why.
Why You Should Learn Christ and Understand It’s Not Jesus Last Name.

Now Father God, in the precious Name of Jesus, I pray for the people right now. I ask you to help them. I ask that Christ may be formed in them. Help them to grow and develop right. Grant unto them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of your Word. Let the eyes of their understanding be opened. Thank you for it. I thank you that all that have come to the Father, have been kept by the power of God unto salvation unto this very hour.

How to Be Up in A Down World

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References:

Galaxie Software, 10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Biblical Studies Press, 2002). ↩
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 615. ↩
Craig Brian Larson, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 436–437. ↩
Johnson, Bill. The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind Expanded Edition: Access to a Life of Miracles. Destiny Image, Inc. Kindle Edition. ↩

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Equipping people to pursue God's glory

Why You Should Learn Christ and Understand It’s Not Jesus Last Name

Podcast: Light on Life Season 9 Episode 35

by Emery Horvath

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