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Ephesians - 7
Ephesians 5:1-21
Introduction
At the age of 23, Second Lieutenant Karl Marlantes was in charge of 40 marines during an intense battle in the Vietnam War.
Marlantes had moved his men into the jungle as they waited for U.S. jets to bomb a hill that North Vietnamese soldiers had overtaken.
Unfortunately, the jets came and dropped their bombs on the wrong hill.
So when Marlantes led his men out of the jungle, they were instantly under fire from untouched machine-gun positions.
Marlantes knew it would only take a few minutes before the enemy rockets and mortars found his troops.
The entire mission ground to a halt as the U.S. soldiers ducked behind downed trees and huddled in shell holes.
Marlantes knew what he had to do next.
He writes:
“If I didn't get up and lead, we'd get wiped out ….
I did a lot of things that day … but the one I'm most proud of is that I simply stood up, in the middle of that flying metal, and started up the hill ….
I simply ran forward up the steep hill, zigzagging for the bunker, all by myself.”
But then in the midst of his solo charge up the hill to take out the enemy, Marlantes suddenly saw some movement in his peripheral vision: “It was a marine!
He was about 15 meters below me, zigzagging, falling, up and running again.
Immediately behind him a long ragged line of Marines came moving and weaving up the hill behind me.
They'd all come with me ….
Everyone was intermingled, weaving, rushing and covering, taking on each hole and bunker one at a time in groups ….
We, the group, just rushed forward all at once.
We couldn't be stopped.
Just individuals among us were stopped … but we couldn't be ….
I was we, no longer me.”
Sometimes, to work together in unity, all you need is an example to follow.
This is the Apostle’s Paul’s point in Ephesians 5.
So far Ephesians has established for us the twin realities of the Christian faith.
When God saved you, He placed you in Union with Christ.
You are in Him.
Meaning, your spiritual position has been moved and you are now in Christ.
But God’s saving work doesn’t stop at merely placing you in Union with Christ.
That Union with Christ creates Unity with Christians.
God the Father has adopted you as sons and daughters, and placed you into His own family…with brothers and sisters.
You are not alone.
Your faith is not isolated and independent.
You are part of God’s people, called to live out the reality of the Unity Christ has created for you.
How exactly do we do that?
Well, the back half of Ephesians is designed to give us the nitty-gritty how-to of Christian unity.
A Unity that is based on our identity in Christ.
In Ephesians 5, Paul, having firmly established all that God’s saving work has done for you, gets intensely practical.
Ephesians 5:1-21 - Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,
2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
3 But sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;
4 nor filthiness and foolish talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
5 For this you know with certainty, that no one sexually immoral or impure or greedy, 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,
8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light
9 (for the fruit of that light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
11 And do not participate in the unfruitful works 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.”
15 Therefore look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 On account of this, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
21 and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
Since Ephesians 4:1, Paul has used the metaphor of ‘walk’ to refer to the Christian’s lifestyle, their everyday living out of their faith.
He instructed to ‘walk worthily of the calling with which you have been called.’
So how do we do that?
What does that look like?
Throughout our text for today, he fleshes that out for us so that we can understand what this means, what this looks like.
WALK IN LOVE (V.
1-6)
Paul has just ended chapter four like this…4:32 - Instead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you.
And he opens chapter 5 with the summary command to ‘be imitators of God.’
The Greek word for ‘imitate’ comes into English as mimic.
We are called to be like God.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:48 to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:15 to be holy as God is holy.
He sets the standard.
He sets the pattern to follow.
Imitate Him…as beloved children.
He is the Father, we are to be the kids who follow dad’s example and follow in His steps.
Because we are ‘beloved.’
We love because we are loved.
Therefore, v. 2 - we ‘walk in love.’
We live out what it means to love.
Meaning, love is not an emotion that we feel.
It is an action that we live.
Just as Christ has loved us…sacrificially…gave Himself up for us…this is what we do for those around us.
We will come back to this idea towards the end.
Christ’s sacrificial love was a fragrant aroma, a pleasing sacrifice to God.
Your life of practical love for God’s people around you is you living in a way that pleases God.
We will come back to this one too.
Verses 3-4 offer two triads of sins that are the opposite of love.
They are the epitome of selfishness.
Because the opposite of love is not hate.
The opposite of love is selfishness.
And we are given a definition of love, defined by what it is not.
Verse 3…sexual immorality, impurity, and greed.
‘Sexual immorality’ (porneia) is a general term for all sexual sin.
Any sexual activity outside of the marriage between a husband and wife, is considered sexual sin according to Scripture.
Premarital, extramarital, pornography, assault, abuse…all sexual sin.
‘Impurity’ is also a blanket term referring to general defilement.
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