Walking as a Christian

Ephesians 4:17-5:20 Walking as a Christian Sunday, August 6, 2023 Pastoral Prayer Heavenly Father, we come to you this morning to seek you, to seek to draw near to you by hearing and obeying your word. Father, where we are tempted to stray from your ways, would you rescue us this morning by redirecting our hearts and our steps by your word, through the power of the Spirit. Would you tune our hearts to walk more wholly and obediently in imitating your likeness, O God. For those of us who are walking in unrepentant sin, would you bring us to repentance? For those of us walking in foolishness, would you bring us to wisdom? For those walking in unloving ways, would you bring us to walk in love? Father we plead with you this morning to do this great and awesome work through the preaching of your Holy Word. And Father, we ask not that you just work here through your word, but that you be at work in other places around the world. We ask that your word would be fruit in the churches that gathered in East Asia earlier in the day. We ask that your people there might be strengthened and for the gospel to go forward through them this week. Father, we too pray for sister churches around us. We pray this morning for Emmanuel Baptist Church and their pastor, Doug Williams. Father we pray for your word to move in the hearts of this sister church, building the body of Christ up for the work of ministry. And so now we pray Father that you now give us attentive hearts and minds to now hear from you. Introduction In April of 2003, Country Music Artist, Billy Currington released his self-titled debut album, Walk a Little Straighter. The song itself is heart breaking, but it hits at reality for so many children as they look at their parents. In the songs situation, its about a dad who wasn't present, who was a drunk, and his son notices. The song itself is a plea from a son to his father, a plea asking him to walk a little straighter. A plea to walk straighter, because he is leading his son. If you go and listen to the song its even more striking. But what I want us to consider this morning is that how we walk is a reflection of who we are. In the case of this song by Billy Currington, its a warning to a dad, to parents that they walk impacts their children. A warning for them to walk rightly before them. But now I want to flip this on its head, looking at it a bit differently. Would it matter if a perfect example to follow and imitate was set before us? Would we rightly follow even then? Friends, there is not a better example who has been given and set before us than the LORD Jesus Christ. An example that as Christians we are called to follow and to imitate. The question is, will we walk in the footsteps of Jesus, learning to imitate him or not? That is the call we have before us this morning as we come to Ephesians 4:17-5:21. A call to walk in a worthy manner of our calling in Christ Jesus. While you are turning to our passage, let me help give you some reminders of what has led us to this point in our study in the letter to the Ephesians. Paul spent the first half of the letter writing to the Ephesian Church about their new identity in Christ. Showing them how they were blessed in Christ. But now, Paul has turned in the second half of the letter to what that means for this church in how they are to live. Last week we saw how they are to labor to live in unity as they pursue Christian maturity. And we pick up there this morning. The main idea of Ephesians 4:17-5:21 is, the call to follow Jesus is a call to walk in a manner imitating him, therefore let us put off the old ways and put on the new. We are going to unfold this in four parts: (1) walk in newness, (2) walk in love, (3) walk in light, and (4) walk in wisdom. I. Walk in newness (4:17-24) Verses 17-18.... In our new life in Christ, we are no longer to walk as the Gentiles do. The Gentiles here is describing those still alienated from the life of God. Those who are ignorant of him in the hardness of their hearts, whose minds are filled with the foolishness of the world, because they are still of the world. We as Christians, those who have been brought from death to life, those who too once were alienated and strangers, but now have been brought near to Christ are no longer to walk as we once did. For we are to be growing in the knowledge of God which is to lead us to new living! The Gentiles however, their hearts are hardened in sin. Verse 19 goes onto clarify this in saying..... Some of you, having worked on the railroad should be all too familiar with calloused hands. Hands that became rough and hardened because of the work you did. Those of the world are calloused, they are hardened and desensitized in their hearts from the truth and the ways of God. And therefore they are given up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is, because of their inability to feel shame or embarrassment, they lack self-constraint and are given over to all sorts of evil. And it is this manner of living that we are called to no longer walk in. We are to not walk as the world, as unbelievers. Why? Verses 20-24.... To use the Apostle Paul's words, assuming we have heard about Christ Jesus and were rightly taught the truth in him, we already know that we have been taught as those in Jesus to put off our old selves and to put on our new self. For the power of the gospel is more than just power to cancel our debt of sin. The power of the gospel is powerful enough to bring dead men to life in Christ, to remove hardened hearts and make them tender to the ways of God. Friends, if your understanding of the gospel is similar to the get out of jail free card in the game of Monopoly, you have not rightly learned Christ and his gospel. The gospel is far greater than just a get out of hell free card. The gospel is the power of salvation that delivers us from out of the bondage of sin and sets us free. Yes, in that deliverance, we escape the consequences of sin, but we are united to Christ where all that is his becomes ours and all our mess becomes his. When we are united to Jesus by faith, his righteousness, his kindness, his mercy, his grace becomes ours. And he takes our evil and wicked ways, he takes our impurities and puts them on himself. This is why Jesus went to the cross, for in that moment, he carried all of our sins up on the cross and bore the full weight of God's wrath against these sins of ours, the sin that he takes from us. You see, the way of Christ is far more than simply escaping hell. The way of Christ is putting all of these former ways away. It is a call to put off the old and put on the new. For some this morning, you need to grasp the fullness of this teaching and actually come to believe in Jesus for the first time. Come and believe and rest in him, that he is the one who makes all things new, including yourself. Come to him and believe today! For it is by faith in him that you will be brought near as you rest in his blood to wash all your sin away. Others this morning need to remember who they are in Christ and what it means for them to be in Christ and stop looking back longing for their sinful past. To quote the great Welsh preacher, Martin Lloyd-Jones, "It is out of this kind of life that believers have been saved and emancipated. God forbid that anyone should ever look back to it with longing eyes."1 If this describes us with longing eyes looking back, we need to repent and continue to put off our old self and put on the new, beginning with the renewing of our mind. Being changed in the way we think by the power of the Spirit at work in us. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us learn to think and walk in the ways of Christ as we are being created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness as we follow King Jesus. But, how are we to walk in the likeness of God? In true righteousness and holiness, you ask? That is where we turn with our next three points, to show us exactly how we are to walk in the newness of life, the newness of Christ. II. Walk in love (4:25-5:2) Ephesians 4:25-32 at first glance seem to be a hodgepodge of topics, until we see that these go with Ephesians 5:1-2. Remember, chapter and verse breaks in our Bibles are not authoritative. They were not original to the Bible in its original languages of Hebrew and Greek. They came later. Therefore, we are helped in understanding the call of Ephesians 4:25-32 is summed up best in the call to walk in love of Ephesians 5:1-2. We imitate God in pursuing true righteousness and holiness when we walk in love as we were loved in Christ. In his love for us, Christ died for us while we were still sinners, while we were still rebels. While we were unlovely, covered in the muck of sin, Jesus washed it away in his sacrificial death for us. Therefore, it is this kind of love that we are called to walk in by loving others. First, we walk in love when we speak the truth of our neighbor. Verse 25...We cannot walk in love if we are speaking falsely about each other and spreading lies or partial truths. We are to speak the truth about our neighbor. Our neighbor here in the context of Ephesians primarily referring to our brothers and sisters within the local church. Second, we are to walk in love by not allowing our anger to cause us to sin. Verses 26-27.... Believe it or not, this is not primarily about marriage. It certainly applies in our marriages, but we as Christians are to walk in love by not letting the sun go down on our anger when it regards our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are are not to allow our anger to be carried over, to hold onto it, to let it turn into a grudge. For if we do, we give opportunity for the devil to turn that anger into bitterness and hatefulness and bear a grudge against others. This is not love, and therefore for us as Christians in pursuing true righteousness and holiness must not walk in this manner. We must seek to not sin when we are brought to anger and quickly let that anger go. The third way we are to walk in love is by doing honest work and laboring with our own hands rather than by being a thief. Ephesians 4:28.... The old man was given over to sensuality and thievery, but the new man must put these away and begin to walk in love by laboring and doing honest work instead of stealing from one's neighbor, doing harm to them. Fourth, to walk in love goes back to our speech. But this time not to truth, but to the avoidance of corrupting talk. Verse 29.... Corrupting or decaying speech is that kind of talk that is not profitable. It is rotten speech. It is the kind of talk that usually leaves you blushing, embarrassed, degraded, or down right angry. Talk that tugs and builds our lusts and passions in ungodly way. As Christians, for us to walk in love, we are to use our speech to build up others around us. We are to use our speech for edifying talk, not destroying others. Let us think this way in how we use our words with others, in how we speak to them, about them, and around them. By seeking to walk in love in these ways, we can keep ourselves from grieving the Holy Spirit who dwells within us as Christians. Verses 30-32.... When we sin and walk in sin, we grieve the Holy Spirit that was given to us to seal our redemption. And this should both terrify us and encourage us. Hear these words from Charles Spurgeon, "He is not a God who reigns in solitary isolation, divided by a great gulf; but he, the blessed Spirit comes into such near contact with us, takes such minute observations, feels such tender regards, that he can be grieved by our faults and follies."2 We Christian, then must learn to put away this evil and learn to walk in love, following our Lord Jesus Christ. But love is not the only path we are called to walk in if we are to be created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. III. Walk in light (5:3-14) As Christians we are called to walk in light. This call to walk in light, first starts with a call to not walk in darkness, particularly darkness that should not even be named among Christians, the darkness of sexual immorality and impurity or covetousness. Ephesians 5:3.... Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness is not proper among saints, that is among Christians. For part of the blessings received in Christ is to be blameless before God, Ephesians 1:4. And to be blameless, as Christians, we are to have a behavior persistent with our calling. And these three, sexual immorality and all impurity and covetousness are not of Christians, and Paul goes further in assuring us that those who act in these ways have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God, Ephesians 5:5... In fact, these sins are so serious, that we are not to only avoid the actual act of doing these things, but to not even talk or joke about the foolishness of these as noted there in verse 4. For this warning sits in between the calls to not be sexually immoral or impure or covetousness, showing it is tied to these things. Sex is a gift given by God in the confines of marriage. It is such a gift that in Proverbs 5, we read that we are to delight and be intoxicated with the wife of our youth, that we are to enjoy sex within the confines of marriage. But anything outside of these, Paul emphasizes is improper, so improper that speech and joking about them is improper. Improper enough that the wrath of God remains on these who walk in sexual immorality and all impurity and covetousness. What are these acts? This refers to any and all sexual activity outside of God's good and perfect design. This including sex outside of the confines of marriage. Sex that perverts God's design between one man and one woman, that of acts of homosexuality and sensuality. Sex that perverts God's design in lusting after a man or woman who is not your spouse. These are the ways of disobedience and darkness. And hear what verse 6 adds to this.... The world would tell us that these are acceptable, that who are we to define love. But here is the reality, we aren't defining these, God our LORD and creator did. And anything else is a perversion of his good and perfect design for such a thing. And therefore, we are taught that not only are we not to do these things, but that we are not to be partners with them, but expose these works of darkness. Ephesians 5:7-10.... We are children of the light and are therefore to walk in the light, in what is good and right and true. Sexual immorality perverts God's good and true design of sex, and those who walk in it walk in what is bad and wrong and false. Let us as Christians stand apart, stand separate from these. Paul takes it further here in verses 11-14.... Christians, we are not to take part in the unfruitful works of darkness, we are to expose them as darkness, as sin. This is why church membership matters, its why their should be a high bar set for church membership. For when the bar is set low, when we never remove anyone in sin, we take part in their unfruitful works by remaining silent, by not calling their sin, sin. By not calling them to return to the light when they remain in darkness. Instead, Christian, we are to expose their evil works. We are to bring them to the light and make them visible in an effort to awaken them and restore them to Christ. That they too might stand in the light with us. And while this to some might seem unloving. Let it be turned, how is it loving to watch others wallow in sin and say nothing, knowing they remain under the wrath of God as sons and daughters of disobedience? We must speak truth to them in gentleness, calling their sin out with the aim to restore. This is truly loving. And this is how we are to walk in the light rather than darkness. We now turn to a third way we are called to walk as we pursue true righteousness and holiness. IV. Walk in wisdom (5:15-21) Ephesians 5:15-16... The days are evil, which means we must be wise and make the best use of our time. We must not waste it on unimportant things or foolish things. Verses 17-18.... With the days evil, it is tempting to lose focus of what God's will for our lives are. We must be careful here, in saying we must understand what the will of the LORD is, it is not asking us to discern his secret and hidden will for us in all its details. In saying we must understand what the will of the Lord is, we are being told to not lose sight of what the LORD has clearly called us to as Christians, to live wisely in the midst of foolishness around us, in the midst of evil. Our task is to hear the clear instruction of our commander, the LORD Jesus Christ, and to follow his clear marching orders in the midst of darkness. His call to follow him and to make disciples. Hearing the call to abstain from evil and ungodly living. His call to pursue holiness. This is the will of God for us, the will of God that we are to understand and apply to the circumstances before us, no matter how evil or perverted they are. Brothers and sisters, before we are concerned with the world in the since of trying to right it, what if we focused on living out the will of the LORD ourselves, in our own lives? That means us not getting drunk with wine, which is debauchary. Instead of being filled with wine to the place of drunkenness, we are to be filled with the Spirit, and laboring to strengthen and encourage and care for one another within the church. What does this look like? Ephesians 5:19-20.... Brothers and sisters, part of us walking in wisdom is to make the best use of our time by encouraging one another in the church and helping one another to persevere in the faith. We do this in our praising and thanking the LORD! There is something beautiful when the church sings together. When we sing deep truths about God upward to God and horizontally to one another. For it is in singing these deep truths about God that we encourage one another's hearts as we address one another and sing to one another of these very truths. There is something powerful about singing songs that pick up the weary soul as we are reminded in the midst of sorrow that He will hole me fast! Or for the doubting soul that there is a firm foundation on which they stand in the hopes of Christ. Likewise, we make the best use of our time in the midst of evil days by giving thanks to God in the name of King Jesus for everything. For this keeps our hearts thankful in the midst of the evil days, it keeps reminding us of God's gracious provision even in the midst of the evil pressing in against us. Conclusion Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us seek to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, as we put off the old man and put on the new. For we were not saved by the blood of Christ to remain as we were. The power of the gospel works not to just save us from the consequences of sin, but to transform us and make us new in Christ. Let's pray.... 1 Lloyd-Jones, Martyn. ESV Church History Study Bible. (Crossway. Wheaton, IL, 2023) 1792. 2 Spurgeon, Charles. CSB Spurgeon Study Bible. (Lifeway. Nashville, TN, 2017) 1590. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ Ephesians 4:17-5:21, Page #