Ephesians 5 - September 3, 2006
**Prayer for school starting - students, teachers, AWANA
Good morning. Join me in turning to the book of Ephesians, chapter 5. We have been going through this letter of Paul the Apostle, written to Christians in the town of Ephesus, the capital city of Turkey or Asia Minor as it was known back them.
•Chapters 1-3 deal with doctrine, and chapters 4-6 deal with duty.
•1-3 deal with who we are, and 4-6 with how we live.
*We look at 1:3 and we see the key idea:
•we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ in the heavenly realms.
In chapters 1-3 Paul talks about what these blessings are. Now in chapters 4-6 he talks about how we live them out in our lives.
In chapter 4, Paul says Live a life worthy of the calling you have received. In our terminology today, Paul would be saying, Whatever you are doing, make sure your life “measures up”! Make sure that your life lives up to the standard of Christ. He reminds us that as Christians we have UNITY.
•We are UNITED in IDENTITY (that’s WHO we ARE) but UNIQUE in MINISTRY (that’s WHAT we DO). • We have UNIFORMITY in the FOUNDATION of the GOSPEL, but we have INDIVIDUALITY in our FUNCTION, using our GIFTS.
In the second half of chapter 4, Paul goes on to talk about PURITY. Unity has a focus on the community as a whole. Purity has a focus on the individual Christian. In chapter 4 we see the MODEL. In chapter 5 we see the MOTIVE. The key thought we come away with in chapter 4 is this:
•Right Thinking Brings Right Actions.
Paul says don’t live like the unsaved but change your thinking. Put off the old nature and all its actions just like you take off dirty clothes. Be constantly renewing your mind and think rightly. And when you do, you will “put on” certain traits that characterize your life. Paul then goes through a list of 6 Areas of Lifestyle Change.
1. Don’t lie - instead we are to tell the truth.
2. Don’t sin by your anger - instead we are to deal with anger as it happens.
3. Don’t steal - instead work so you can help others.
4. Don’t attack with words - instead build others up with our words.
5. Don’t be bitter and unkind - instead be compassionate and loving.
6. Don’t be obscene about sex - instead t we should be thankful for it
And this brings us today to chapter 5. Today we see the motive for these 6 areas of lifestyle change. WHY do we make these changes in our lives. Let’s read Ephesians 5:6-21.
Why do we live the way we do? Why do we live differently? Why do we put off the old and on the new?
There are some times that we wish we didn’t have to have such an upright lifestyle. Times that you just want to tell your boss what you really think of him, times you want to be malicious and ruin the car that took your parking spot, times you want to give in to sin with that person of the other sex. So WHY don’t we? What is our motivation for doing right. That’s what we want to be reminded of today. Paul gives us
Four Reasons for Right Living:
1. It’s the SAFE thing to do. (vs 5-7) Paul reminds us that God punishes those who live sinfully. Satan would love to have us forget that. He wants to lull us asleep thinking we can get away with whatever we want. But the truth is that God is a God of justice, a God of wrath, a God of vengeance. Verse 6 reminds us that God’s wrath comes upon the disobedient.
Our culture has pretty well done away with the idea of “hell.” Many don’t believe in a real, literal hell. But for those who do, they basically believe that only the worst of sinners would go there. We need to understand that ALL sin faces the judgment of God.
Rom. 1:18 - The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against ALL the godlessness and wickedness of men.
We tend to like to think our sin is insignificant. We say it isn’t hurting anyone. But God says sin is deadly!
Gal. 6:7-9 - Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Why do we live a godly life? It’s the SAFE thing to do, because when we live a godly life we will not face the wrath of a holy God.
Heb. 10:31 - It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Sometimes we talk so much about God being loving and kind and merciful and forgiving, that we fail to emphasize the other side of his character: He is a God of wrath and judgment. If you want to escape the wrath of God, LIVE RIGHT!
Remember our theme for chapter 4: Right thinking brings right action. If you think about the judgment waiting for sin, it will motivate you to live a godly life. It will also affect the friends we have. Verse 7 tells us not to be a partner with the disobedient. Prov. 1:10 - My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them.
Paul gives us a second motivation.
2. It’s the CHRISTIAN thing to do. (vs 8-14) Not only do we change our lifestyle to escape the judgment of God, but we also do it because it is an evidence of who we are, a child of light. We USED to be a child of the dark, but now we are light in the Lord. Verse 9 tells us that we will produce fruit. You can’t judge whether or not someone else is saved, but you can look for fruit. Paul gives us three signs of conversion: character, integrity, and honesty. First, character - Paul uses the word “goodness” - which refers to an uprightness of heart. When we accept Christ as Savior, He changes our hearts. We don’t just have an outward change, but an inward heart change. The second fruit is righteousness - or the integrity to do that which is right. Not only does our heart change, but it shows action by doing what our heart tells us is right. The third fruit is truth, which is the freedom from falsehood, and the freedom from deceit.
So, when we become a Christian, it shows in our lives. From the heart we truly desire to do right. That is why Paul continues to say in verse 10, find out what pleases the Lord. When we trust Christ, we want to do the things that please Him.
Satan’s desire is that we continue to live in bondage to our habits, passions, and lusts. The truth is that we have been freed to live for God. No longer are we to have anything to do with our old way of life. Verse 11 says Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible.
Our calling as Christians is to expose sin wherever we see it. Our sin natures want us to hide it. Sin has such a great inroad into the lives of so many Christians. If I could stand up here today and start revealing the secret sins of Christians, there would not be one person in this sanctuary who wouldn’t be ashamed.
Some Christians here today struggle with pornography, addicted to looking at pictures of naked women or men on the computer screen at night. Some Christians struggle with their speech, losing their temper and foully curse using the name of the very God who loved them and died for them. Some Christians here are hooked on a chemical addiction, they tell themselves, that they just can’t give up their cigarettes. They say they need the nicotine to soothe their nerves, but in reality they placed themselves in slavery to a smelly trap of Satan. And we could go through the list of sins. Some here probably have been tempted to abuse a little child. Jesus said it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied round his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
As Christians, we have a change of lifestyle because we are children of light. No longer are we to give in to the slavery and addiction that Satan brings.
Then Paul gives a third reason for our lifestyle change: It is the safe thing to do, it is the Christian thing to do, and
3. It is the WISE thing to do. (15-17) Our lives are to be lived purposefully. Many Christians live from day to day, working their job, going to church on the weekend, and look forward to the time when they can retire so they can start to serve God. But when retirement comes, they find other amusements to distract them. But we only have a limited number of days. If you live to be 80, you will only have 29,220 days to live. When you’re young, that seems like a lot. But when you’re 40, you only have 14, 610 days left. When you’re 60, you only have 7,305 days left. And the countdown timer reminds you that EVERY day is important.
I used to drive for UPS, and every minute, every second, you are thinking about your route, where you are going next. You know you want to be friendly, but in every conversation you are always thinking about getting back tot he car and going to the next stop. Every minute is important. How much more with eternal things in mind.
Verse 16 reminds us to live wisely, making the most of every opportunity. We can’t say I’m taking the day off. We NEVER get a day off from doing the will of God, because EVERY DAY is important. Now, we DO get days off from labor, from being around people, from intense emotional conversation. We all need a rest. But we always must seek to do the will of God every day. That’s what Paul reminds us in verse 17 - it would be foolish not to understand the will of the Lord.
Now some people struggle all their life to know God’s will for their life. If God told you he wanted you to move to Arizona, you’d start thinking about all the things you needed to do: box up the toys in the garage, list the house, find someone to take care of the family pets. But it’s not the things about God’s will that we don’t know that is the problem. The problem comes in the things we DO know. We already know so very many things that we should be doing, but we don’t. That’s where our failures come as Christians. We need to live every minute of every day seeking to do the will of God.
And yes, I know that is intense! But it is what we have been called to do.
We life a different lifestyle from the world because it’s the SAFE thing to do, the Christian thing to do, the WISE thing to do, and fourthly,
4. It is the SPIRITUAL thing to do. (18-21) Paul tells us what it means to be spiritual. Verse 18 tells us it is NOT to get drunk with wine. It is commanded. To disobey God’s commands is sin. If you have a drink or two, that’s an exercise of your Christian liberty. You need to have a clear conscience before God in doing that. But to pass the point of control and become drunk is sin. God says it leads to debauchery, or wild, riotous living. - the prodigal - one with no restraint. Instead of being controlled by alcohol, as Christians we are called to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. In the same way that alcohol controls a person, the Holy Spirit can completely control a person as well. We are called to have that type of the control of the spirit in our lives.
We are commanded to be filled with the spirit. Literally the wording is “Be ye being filled” - a continual action. We aren’t commanded to be baptized by the spirit, because God does that at salvation (1 Cor. 12:13). The spirit regenerates us (John 1:12) , indwells us (Rom. 8:9), and seals us (Eph 1:3) at salvation. But our part on a daily basis is to be being filled - to give the Spirit the freedom and control of our lives.
What is the mark of being filled with the spirit? It is NOT speaking in tongues, though several charismatic groups would say so. There is nothing to show that in scripture. Instead, what do we see here: fellowship, worship, thankfulness, and mutual submission.
So many people get hung up on music. Notice what Paul writes here. Spiritual music, music led by the spirit of God involves psalms (like As the Deer panteth for the water so my soul longeth after thee) - hymns, or teaching songs about God (a mighty fortress is our God) - but also spiritual songs, or songs written out of personal experience of faith and joy (I love you Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you). God likes them all and wants them all, and that is why we have chosen to have a blended service here at Bethel.
We’ll talk more next week about submission. But our reminder today is that there should be something different about our lives as Christians. We should live to follow the will of God, because it is the safe thing, the Christian thing, the wise thing, and the spiritual thing to do. Evaluate your life today. Is there a difference in the way you live your life? Let’s pray.
