SSL 10 - Eph. 5:1-14
LAST WEEK: In Eph. 4:17-32, Paul delivered a practical exposition of how we should live out the Christian life, with emphasis on putting on a "new self" in the likeness of God, while putting away the old self polluted with sin. We covered five main points of personal application: (1) In our former life, before we became Christians, our minds were futile and we lived in darkness. Our minds were futile because we had no absolute standard for truth or for right or wrong and we lived in darkness because we were ignorant about the things of God. (2) God created in us a "new self" at the moment of salvation, but that is just the starting point. But in order to turn it into a reality, we must continue putting on our new self on a day-to-day basis. (3) The chief obstacle of putting on our "new self" is our old nature. Paul listed three practical steps to realize this: (1) replace falsehood with truth; (2) replace selfish anger with controlled anger; and (3) replace laziness and greed (the thief) with hard work and giving. (4) To resolve conflicts in our relationships with others, we need to "put away" the corrupt behaviors of the old self and put on the loving behaviors of the new self. The two practical steps to do this are: (1) replace destructive speech with constructive speech and (2) replace sinful anger with kindness and forgiveness. (5) The most important key in the resolution of conflicts is the Holy Spirit. Our primary motive in achieving harmonious relationships is not to make ourselves and others happy but not to grieve God, or to put it positively, to please Him. The Holy Spirit, which God sealed within us on the day of redemption, is not an impersonal, unfeeling force. When we sin, we cause Him sorrow and pain.
THIS WEEK: In Eph. 5:1-14, Paul continues his practical instructions on how Christians should live out their faith. Rather than imitating the world, or being controlled by worldly things, Christians are to walk in love, as children of the light. Christians are warned to steer clear of specific sins such as sexual immorality, crude speech, and greed.
Read Eph. 5:1-2 - WALKING IN LOVE
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
v. 1: "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children" - The Greek word for "imitator" (mimētai), from which we get the word mimic, literally means following a positive example. Paul makes his parallel from the fact that children typically begin to mimic their parents at a very young age, and by doing so, they learn from it. The Bible is clear that we become children of God when we are born into His family through a spiritual new birth (Jn. 1:12-13). Last week in Eph. 4:24, we learned that God is the pattern for our "new self." But to imitate God and behave like His beloved children, we must know Him and His ways through His Word.
v. 2: "and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma" - To imitate God, we must walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave up His life for us, and we can't imitate God in loving one another unless we understand what God's love is. The type of love is agapé, which can be defined as a self-sacrificing, caring commitment that shows itself by seeking the highest good of the one loved. And when Paul says we should "walk in love," he means it's a lifelong, ongoing, day-to-day process. We need to remember that, out of love, Jesus gave Himself over to death for us (Rom. 5:2) and now, He calls on us sacrificially to love those who may not be very lovable. When we do this-love sacrificially-we're making an offering to God "as a fragrant aroma."
TRUTH 1: We can't imitate God in loving one another unless we understand what God's love is. To imitate God, we must walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave up His life for us. The type of love is agapé, which can be defined as a self-sacrificing, caring commitment that shows itself by seeking the highest good of the one loved. We need to remember that, out of love, Jesus gave Himself over to death for us (Rom. 5:2) and now, He calls on us sacrificially to love those who may not be very lovable.
Read Eph. 5:3-7 - A CONTRAST TO AND CONSEQUENCES OF NOT WALKING IN LOVE
3 But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; 4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them;
v. 3: "But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints" - Paul lists three words: (1) "immorality" (Gk. porneia) refers to any type of sexual immorality and includes premarital sex, extramarital sex, incest, homosexuality, and the use of pornography. Outside of marriage, sex basically degenerates into an act of using the other person for your own gratification. (2) "impurity" (Gk. akatharsia) lit. a suppurating wound, in this context refers to dirty behavior that contaminates others. (3) "greed" (Gk. pleonexia). It's interesting that Paul groups greed with the sexual sins. This is because a greedy person has a lust for more, whether it's money, material possessions, or sexual conquests. Greed is motivated by selfish pleasure apart from God. When Paul declares that these things "must not even be named among you," he's not saying they shouldn't be discussed (he's discussing them and so are we); rather, he means that these sins should be unknown, non-existent among Christians, which includes not polluting our minds with these sins by watching movies or TV programs that depict them.
v. 4: "and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks" - Three more words: (1) "filthiness" (Gk. aischrotēs) refers to any type of indecent, obscene, or shameless behavior. It comes from the same word root as "disgraceful." (2) "silly talk" (Gk. mōrologia) refers to any talk that disregards or mocks God's moral standards. (3) "coarse jesting" (Gk. eutrapelia) refers to dirty jokes and off color humor or remarks. Paul's point is that God's standards are absolute and include moral purity in thought, speech, and behavior. The "giving of thanks," means that we are grateful for all that God has given us, and to be truly thankful, we must submit to God's sovereignty over every detail of our lives.
v. 5: "For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God" - Think about it: It only makes sense that there won't be immoral or greedy people (who are idolaters) in heaven-it wouldn't be heaven if that were the case, would it? While Christians can fall into these sins, no true Christian can continue in such sins.
v. 6-7: "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them" - Paul knew that some, even Christian leaders, might say, hey, you're under grace. God is a God of love who won't condemn you. He understands your weaknesses. But Paul is warning us that such enticing and misleading-i.e., "empty"-words can lure unsuspecting people to eternal ruin. The phrase, "sons of disobedience," refers to those whose lives are characterized by disobedience, not to those who have stumbled but repented. If someone professes to be a Christian but lives in habitual disobedience to God's moral standards, it's evidence that he or she has not been born again. Finally, in v. 7, Paul acknowledges that we all live in the mist of fallen sinners and even have social contact with them, as Jesus did, but at the same time we must not participate in or contribute to their sinful lifestyles.
TRUTH 2: God's standards for moral behavior are absolute, not relative, and not debatable. We live in a day when many professing Christians deny that God's moral standards are absolutely true and binding on all people. Paul disagrees, and the Word
of God hasn't changed since his time, has it? God gave us these standards for our good. When we violate them, it gives us short-term pleasure (that's why we're tempt-ed), but leaves us with long-term pain, anguish, and problems. Although keeping God's standards can be difficult in the short-term, they are deeply satisfying in the long term.
Read Eph. 5:8-10 - YOU WERE ONCE DARKNESS BUT NOW ARE LIGHT
8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
v. 8: "for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light" - Notice that Paul doesn't say we were formerly in darkness but were darkness. He means we were spiritually blind. We didn't see God's glory and truth and didn't sense our need for a savior. So we lived entirely for ourselves and our pleasure and avoided the idea of eternity and death. Then God saved us and opened our eyes-our spiritual eyes-to see the "Light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). We saw our true condition as guilty sinners and likewise saw the sufficiency of Jesus' death on the cross to cover all our sins. Now, we hate the sin that formerly characterized our lives and "walk as children of light" because God has made us "light in the Lord."
v. 9: "(for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth)" - Here, Paul lists the three fruits of the "Light": (1) "all goodness" - Goodness is one of God's attributes, so to be good means to be like God. Applied to us, it's a broad term for behavior that puts the interests of others above ourselves. (2) "righteous-ness" - refers to conformity to God's standards as applied from His Word. And (3) "truth" - As we learned 2 weeks ago in Eph. 4:15, as Christians, we can speak the truth in love and as our faith matures, we reach a point where we can be completely transparent and honest with one another because we are also people of our word with nothing to hide.
v.10: "trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord" - (Since v. 9 was parenthetical, this connects back to v. 8.) The Greek word for "trying to learn" (Gk. dokimazontes) means to put to the test or prove. So as we renew our minds through God's Word, we learn more and more of what pleases God. Yes?It's important for us to know that we don't please God based on our feelings or even our consciences but through a growing understanding of His Word. This illustrates a fundamental distinction between believers and non-believers. Non-believers can be good people, truthful, reliable, and hard working, but they generally do these things out of selfish motives for their own self-respect. But believers, who "walk in the Light," do good in order to please God, not to please themselves.
TRUTH 3: To walk as children of the light, we must become children of the light. We accomplish this by learning "what is pleasing to the Lord" (v.10). As we renew our minds through God' Word, we learn more and more of what pleases God. It's important for us to know that we don't please God based on our feelings or even our consciences but through a growing understanding of His Word. This illustrates a fundamental distinction between believers and non-believers. Non-believers can be good people, truthful, reliable, and hard working, but they do these things out of selfish motives for their own self-respect. But believers, who "walk in the Light," do good in order to please God, not to please themselves.
Read Eph. 5:11-14 - CHILDREN OF THE LIGHT SHOULD EXPOSE DEEDS OF DARKNESS
11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. 14 For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you."
v. 11: "Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them" - We examined the "deeds of darkness" in vv. 3-4 and contrasted them with the "fruit of the Light" in v. 9. Light, by its very nature, should expose darkness. Paul is saying that the noticeable difference in the way we live our lives should expose the sin of those who are engaging in unfruitful deeds of darkness. Our thinking, attitudes, words, and behavior in general should send a message to non-believers-i.e., that, because of our faith, we don't think, talk, or act like them. The difference should be obvious. When we do this, we expose their deeds of darkness with our lives, our Christian witness, and it's a message of love, not hate. We want to attract them to our light, don't we?
v .12: "for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret" - Notice that Paul listed general descriptions of the deeds of darkness but did not describe every possible sin in gruesome detail. He does imply that what these sinners do "in secret" is more ugly than what is known about them openly. This tells believers that we can condemn certain sins without knowing all the details about them and can speak against sins without direct personal experience with them.
v. 13: "But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light" - Here again, Paul uses "light" to communicate a spiritual principle. He's telling Christians to expose sin-make them "visible"-by making a clear distinction between what is right and good and what is wrong and sinful. However, we can't expect it to be easy when we set out to expose the works of darkness. We should expect those who love darkness to oppose us-maybe even violently. But light exposes things as they really are. We need to remember this: Jesus is the light of the world (Jn. 8:12); He has called us to be the light of the world (Mt. 5:14-16); light eventually overwhelms darkness; light eventually wins; and God will guarantee it.
v. 14: "For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you" - Paul is thought to be quoting an early hymn or poem that would have been familiar to the Ephesians. It doesn't quote but alludes to several OT verses: "The LORD makes His face shine on you" (Num. 6:25); "Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them" (Isa. 9:2); and "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you" (Isa. 60:1). But the hymn recasts these verses in light of Christ's resurrection: Just as Christ arose from the dead, this verse calls Christians to awaken from their spiritually idle state and promises that when they do, "Christ will shine on you." It promises that when they awaken, they won't stand alone, but Christ will illuminate their pathway and give them what they need.
TRUTH 4: Christians expose the deeds of darkness by living godly lives that maintain a proper separation from the world. If we are no different in our thinking, attitudes, and behavior than those who do not know Christ, we have no message to give them. But if we are walking in the light- separating ourselves from the sinful lifestyles of the world-and living to please the Lord with goodness, righteousness, and truth, our godly lives will expose the sinful lives of those around us. However, we can't expect it to be easy when we set out to expose the works of darkness. We should expect those who love darkness to oppose us-maybe even violently. But light exposes things as they really are. We need to remember this: Jesus is the light of the world (Jn. 8:12); He has called us to be the light of the world (Mt. 5:14-16); light eventually overwhelms darkness; light eventually wins; and God will guarantee it.
PRAYER: LORD GOD, our Father and Creator, we come before Your throne this morning with humble and grateful hearts, thanking and praising You for Your love, mercy, and unmerited grace toward us and for the many blessings you give us this day and every day. Lord, lead our church be a witness to you, immersed in scripture, constant in prayer, joyful in worship, and generous in serving and giving. As Paul teaches us, please help and strengthen us to be a body of believers who walk in love as children of the light. As Your son Jesus is the light of the world, let us, as a people, be a light, a beacon of hope, to the people outside the doors of this church who need to know the love of Christ as their Savior. In Jesus' powerful name I pray, AMEN
