Over the Last few weeks and through the next couple of weeks, we have been looking at our lives in Christ. What does it look like? How are we support to act? Much of the new Testament, especially the writings of Paul, John and Peter, deal with the process of sanctification – the process of becoming holy. As we become more sanctified, we are becoming more like Jesus.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, he describe this process as;
Ephesians 4:22a and 24a (NKJV) that you put off, … the old man, - and that you put on the new man ...
We are in the process of taking off the old man, as we are putting on the new man. Like wearing dirty clothes we must take off so we do not get the clean clothes that we put on dirty.
Today’s sermon was titled “Walking in Love,” in light of the first two verses of Chapter 5, but there is so much more there in those verses. We get it, God is Love (1 John 4:8) and we must love like Him, but what holds us back? It is those dirty clothes, the old man that we keep putting back on.
Ephesians 5:1–7
In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin tells of the time he wanted to convince the citizens of Philadelphia to light the streets at night as a protection against crime and as a convenience for evening activities. Failing to convince them by his words, he decided to show his neighbors how compelling a single light could be. He bought an attractive lantern, polished the glass, and placed it on a long bracket that extended from the front of his house. Each evening as darkness descended, he lit the wick.
His neighbors soon noticed the warm glow in front of his house. Passersby found that the light helped them to avoid tripping over protruding stones in the roadway. Soon others placed lanterns in front of their homes, and eventually the city recognized the need for having well-lighted streets.
That is the power of example. Samuel Johnson once wrote, “Example is always more effective than teaching.” Albert Schweitzer said, “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” Children become like parents; churches become like pastors; students become like teachers—all because of the power of example. There may be no greater power on earth to change the behavior of others. [1]
Ephesians 5:1 (NKJV) Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
As the children of God, as we do call ourselves, we should been seen as imitating the very traits of God. Children, as they grow, will imitate their parents. How many time do I catch myself spouting out of my mouth my father very words? How many times have I heard my words come out of my children’s mouths?
Children will often grow up liking what their parents like, and disliking the things their parents dislike. We are to imitate God, Last week we touched on this. We were told to forgive others just like God forgave us.
Ephesians 4:32 (NKJV) And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
We are to imitate mercy, Just as God showed mercy to us.
Luke 6:36 (NKJV) Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
And we are to holy, because God is holy:
1 Peter 1:15–16 (NKJV) but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
We were created in His Image and that image has been marred by sin. By our salvation and through our sanctification, the true image of God is being restored. We are not like the world, nor should we seek to imitate the world. We see what the world imitates, they imitate their father the devil, according to Jesus. (we touched on this last week.)
John 8:44 (NKJV) You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
So how do we imitate God?
Ephesians 5:2 (NKJV) And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
Walk in Love. The apostle John was quite verbose about walking as Jesus walked, and walking in love in his little letter of 1st John. Just reading part of his talk about love:
1 John 4:7–8 (NKJV) Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
And how did Jesus show His love? Back to Eph 4:2 -“...given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God.” By the giving of Himself for us by His death on the cross. Jesus said:
John 10:11 (NKJV) I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
Jesus gave Himself for us and we should be give ourselves for others.
1 John 3:16 (NKJV) By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Jesus was the sacrifice and offering to God: “for a sweet-smelling aroma.” We are to be a continuance of that sweet smelling aroma before God.
2 Corinthians 2:15–16 (NKJV) For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?
Are we giving ourselves as we should to those things. We have been given the message of life. To those hearing the message we are the aroma of life, eternal life. To those who ignore or reject the message, we are the aroma of death, eternal death or hell.
But here is the problem, the same problem we have been discussing over the past two week. We like our old clothes, we like the old man. We either don’t take off all of the old man or we keep putting parts of him back on. I would love to take this whole sermon and talk about walking in love, but that is not where the scripture is taking us. I have to be true to scripture and not just concentrate on the things are easy to preach and easy to hear.
Look at the first word of the next verse, verse 3. In most every translation it is the word “but.” "But" is a contrasting conjunction. We are to walk in love, but ... there is a problem:
Ephesians 5:3 (NKJV) But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;
Throughout the Scriptures and especially notable in the NT, there is an emphasis made against sexual sin. Fornication in the NKJV and translated sexual immorality in most other translations. It is from the Greek work “porneia.” It is where we get our word "porn" from. It means any illicit sexual activity outside of marriage (that is the marriage of one man to one woman).
Uncleanliness, in context, deals with any immorality of any sort, most notable sexual immorality. We encounter uncleanliness in books, magazines, it is piped into our homes via the internet or television. We have spiritually unclean material all around us in our very homes. We allow uncleanliness to fill our lives.
Covetousness, here again, in context, it can mean greed or desire to fill a sexual appetite. In the 10 commandments the command of "do not covet" is made in relationship to adultery, not coveting your neighbor’s wife, as well as for other things.
These things are completely unfitting for the saints – the holy people of God. And who are the saints? That would be you and me. Paul says there should not even be a hint of it. Paul does not stop there, the saints should not have, as my mother would say, a "potty mouth."
Ephesians 5:4 (NKJV) neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
Vulgar talk, profanities, and the like should not be on our lips. We think we get away with this by using substitute words, like when we say “darn” or “oh heck.” There are scores of other substitute words I will not cover this morning. We are not fooling anyone with our substitute words. People know what we are really saying. We should not even have any of these filthy words on our lips. It mares the holiness that we are to be and the love we are to walk in.
True Christians are known by their demeanor, even when things are aggravating and has our dander up. At this point we can easily revisit the verse we covered last week: Eph 4:26 – “Be angry and do not sin in your anger.” That include what we say.
Foolish talking includes a variety of talk to include gossip, talking behind one’s back, and talk that fails to edify one another. Coarse or crude jesting or joking are those things we say that have double meaning, or sexual innuendos. None of these things are fitting for saints. James tells us:
James 3:10 (NKJV) Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
What should be on our lips? “but rather giving of thanks.” what do people hear form our lips, potty mouth, or the giving of thanks and praises to God?
But here is the real clincher:
Ephesians 5:5 (NKJV) For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Yes, Christians fall into sin, but a Christian’s life is not characterized by these things. Now what I’m about to say may offend a few, but I preaching from the word of God and these are not my own thoughts. This verse is a repeat of the sins in verse 3. Fornicators, or sexual immoral people, unclean or impure persons, or covetous, greedy persons, those who lives are characterized by these things will ever see heaven. This mean they are lost and condemned to hell.
If this is your life, your life is characterized by these traits and you consider yourself as saved because you walked a church aisle, said a prayer and was dunked in pool, you really ought to examine your salvation. The evidence of true salvation is a changed life, not the checking off of squares on someone’s checklist.
The covetous person has an additional descriptor, they are idolaters, meaning they desire things more than God. Romans 1:25 says they worship the creation, or the creature, rather than the Creator. That is a breaking of the first commandment of having no gods before the Lord your God. This is so important that Paul repeats this in several of his letters, most notably in 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NKJV) Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Notice what Paul says here, “and such were some of you.” We can be saved out of these grievous sins. But the world will kick back and say we are spouting hate speech. And a God that is all love will not never condemn anybody for doing what comes natural, because He made us this way. God didn’t make us this way, but from Adam, we inherited a sin nature. Those people who will attempt to lead you away form the truth of Scripture has obviously never read the whole Word of God or if they have, they discount it as being in error.
Paul warns us:
Ephesians 5:6 (NKJV) Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
One day God’s wrath will come down hard these people. The writer of Hebrews tells us:
Hebrews 13:4 (NKJV) Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
God will judge those people. Considering this, Paul give us a “therefore” to give a piece of instruction in light of these sins:
Ephesians 5:7 (NKJV) Therefore do not be partakers with them.
There are some people we are not to do business with or keep company with. They will corrupt us. But perhaps if they see by our lifestyle of walking in love, just as Jesus did , they will come and ask what make us different. Peter tells us to always be ready with an answer (1 Peter 3:15).
We are to be imitators of God, as his children. We are to love the things that He loves and hate the things that He hates. We ought to reach out to those in sin and let them know there is a way to forgiveness and becoming right with their Creator. In Ezekiel, God says He take no please in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23). Peter says of God:
2 Peter 3:9b (NKJV) but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
We cannot walk in love or do anything good in the sight of God unless we have given over all to Him. part of putting off the old man is repentance. There is no coming to Jesus without repentance. that is what we do when we surrender all to Him. Only then can good come out of our lives through what God does, tby His holy Spirit in our lives.
Taking off the old man and putting on the new man involves giving over all to Jesus, the good, the bad and the ugly. Jesus does not want some of us. He wants it all. We do not clean up ourselves to meet Him, we meet Jesus and let Him do all the cleaning.
[1] Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 169.
