Rich in Example

Introduction

Good morning! My name is DJ Palmire, I’m one of the elders here at Pillar Woodlawn and I’m glad to see you all this morning.

Over the past couple of months, we’ve been marching our way through Ephesians taking note of God’s Riches for God’s people. In the letter, so far, Paul shared of God’s rich blessings for those in Christ and prayed for spiritual insight. He told his readers that those who follow Jesus were brought from being dead in our sins to being alive in Christ through the mercy and grace of God, not by any way that we could earn it. The end goal of being made alive is being brought into one unified body inhabited by the Spirit of God. In Chapter 3, Paul reminds the Ephesians that he has been working among the Gentiles for the purpose of bringing about the unity that he has already described and prays that the Ephesians will experience the Spiritual power required to know and live out the fullness of God within them.

Ephesians chapter four began a string of “Therefore”s that really serve to structure the back half of the letter. The first “therefore” is a reminder that they are to walk worthy of the calling they have received, namely, to unity and toward maturity.

The second “therefore” is the start of what Cody preached on last week. Cody reminded us that Christians should live tangibly different lives because they reflect the righteousness and purity of God. Paul wanted the Ephesians to see the stark differences of what a follower of Jesus should look like using their own experience as a guide.

Paul has given us a basic framework for how the Christian life is essentially different. In other words, the lives of followers of Jesus have a different motivation, purpose, and result than the Gentiles around them.

Today we’re going to see Paul expand our understanding of how this true for us today just as it was in Ephesus and more practical ways in which we can live a life that follows Jesus.

Ephesians 5:1–21 CSB

Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints. Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks. For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. Therefore, do not become their partners. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light—for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth—testing what is pleasing to the Lord. Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. Everything exposed by the light is made visible, for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit: speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

Main idea: Being a follower of Jesus is an invitation to imitate God, which results in a new way of life that is fundamentally different those around us.

Albert Bandura was a psychologist in the mid-20th century. In the 1960s, Bandura became known for his social learning theory. His approach recognized reinforcement and the importance of observing, modeling, and imitating the emotional reactions, attitudes, and behaviors of others in learning. The Social Learning Theory suggests that we learn from one another throughout our lives by the following processes: observation, imitation, and modeling.

Observation - We observe other people’s behavior.

Imitation - Following observation, we assimilate and imitate the observed behavior.

Modeling- We are more likely to imitate behavior modeled by people we perceive as similar to ourselves. This is what other people would describe as taking on a group identity.

Bandura described in contemporary psychological theory how Paul describes transformation in the Christian life.

Observe God’s love for us through Christ

Imitate God’s love

Modeled in the community of the church

Paul uses three walking metaphors to help us understand practically what it means to imitate God

Walk in Love (v.1-7)

First, Paul tells us to be imitators of God by walking in love.

Verse 1’s imperative to imitate God is the only place where the word “imitate” is applied to a Christian’s relation to God. We are to imitate God. And we imitate God because of the sacrificial love he has shown us.

This is an invitation to the radically different life from what the Gentiles know. This invitation to imitation is crux of discipleship. We are to imitate God because we are his beloved children. Paul doesn’t invite us into mere church membership, showing up on a Sunday morning singing some songs, praying, and hearing a sermon. And it’s not to claiming Christianity as your religious preference on the US Census. The invitation that he presents is to live as beloved children imitating their father.

I have the blessing of a father who treated me as a beloved child and I definitely imitated him. My father was a military musician long before I was born and was in the US Marine Band when I was born. For the first few years of my life starting in the womb, I was going to concerts and hearing his music being played. My parents have a picture of me wearing my dad’s uniform and conducting to a recording of his band playing a march. I learned to love the things he loved because I was invited into those things as his beloved son. The same is true with us and God the Father. He loves us and invites us to love the things he loves. As Psalm 37:4 tells us “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.”

So the question arises, “what does it mean to imitate God and how do we do that?” The way we know how to imitate God is through the life and ministry of Jesus. In John 5:19 Jesus said of himself that he only does the things that he sees his father is doing, in other words: Jesus himself imitates the Father. Jesus and Philip have a remarkable interaction that gets right to this question in John 14:8–11. Listen to this interaction:

John 14:8–11 CSB

“Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.

Jesus said that if you see him, you see the Father. So practically speaking, if we are to imitate the Father, we can look to Jesus and how he lived to know what to imitate.

Paul’s invitation is to imitate God, which we can do as we learn to live like Christ. Church membership should be a group of people learning how to imitate Jesus better and better each day.

Specifically, Paul exhorts his readers to walk in love and reminds us what is looks like when we aren’t walking in love.

Now when we think of walking in love, it’s important to have in mind what Jesus says in Matthew 22:37-40

Matthew 22:37–40 CSB

He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Love encapsulates the Old Testament.

Sexual immorality, impurity, and greed which are named in verses 3 and 5 are all relational and idolatrous. They relate to deficiencies in either loving God or loving our neighbors.

Sexual immorality treats others as objects (horizontal relationships) to be conquered or claimed as trophies.

Impurity or moral uncleanness, by its nature is relational: right and wrong are always judged by the impact on relationships either horizontal by wronging another person or vertical by wronging God.

Greed is both horizontal, I want what that person has, or more than that person has, and vertical, if God was good/real, he would have given me this so I’m going to take it for myself. Greed is also a way of showing distrust in God’s promise to provide.

Verse four gives us some other symptoms of unloving hearts: obscene and foolish talking as well as crude joking. This relates to what Paul said just a few verses earlier in Ephesians 4:29–31, which we read last week. Paul is indicating that the standard for how we use language is a high bar, it should be intentional and be marked by love.

Paul’s warning is to not be deceived by empty arguments and so become partners of those who are disobedient. The word translated partner here in verse 7 has to do participation. The NLT translates verse 7: "don't participate in the things these people do." In participating with them we become their partners. This is a contrast from verse 1, don’t become participators in the sin, rather be imitators of God.

Walk as the Light (7-14)

The “therefore” in verse 7 serves as a pivot point. He just brought to light our need to walk in love through imitating Christ, avoiding sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscene or foolish talk, and crude joking. Paul sets up the next walking metaphor by showing the contrast in nature between the followers of Jesus and the Gentiles who don’t follow Jesus.

Ephesians 5:7–8 “Therefore, do not become their partners. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light—”

There has been a change in our nature as a result of God bringing us from death to life: we are no longer darkness, we are light. The change in our nature is as stark as light and darkness. By definition, darkness is the absence of light. The two do not exist together, there is either darkness or there is light. In the same way, Paul is telling his readers, “your new nature is incompatible with the types of things that the Gentiles do.”

Paul’s exhortation here is that we are to live out what has already been done in us. We don’t create the light within us, we exude the light that has been placed in us, or in his words, the light we are.

Listen to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:14–16 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

In other words, you are light, act like it! Give light to the world around you. If you aren’t dispersing the darkness, you’re not doing what light is supposed to do!

Paul shifts from proposition: you are now light; to a command: walk as children of light. Paul points out three fruit: all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

All three of these things are words that are qualities of God. If we are imitating God, the fruit of our light should be the same: goodness, righteousness, and truth. Again, I want to point out that the description of what it looks like to obey the command of walking as children of light is less about doing it on our own and more about living out what we have already become through Christ’s work in us. These are by-products of our faith in Christ, not a pre-requisite for salvation.

The fruit comes about as we learn to live a life of imitation. Just as a child is equipped with all the faculties needed to imitate their parents, we as followers of Jesus are equipped with all that we need to imitate our Father, but what is lacking is the intentional use of that equipping.

Part of our maturing process is learning how to discern what is good and pleasing to the Lord as verse 10 tells us. We compare what we do with what God has shown us by his Spirit through his word and we begin to identify ways to either avoid what is not pleasing to the Lord or embrace and engage more things that are pleasing to the Lord. It doesn’t just happen. And ultimately that is what Paul is saying in the course of the back half of Ephesians: you have everything you need, you have to learn how to use it! The life of a disciple is a life of training to be like Jesus.

Just as light exposes what is in darkness, the light of our life serves to expose the dark areas of the lives of others. The word for exposed carries the meaning of conviction, which is the result of examination, testing and argument. John 3:19-21 uses the same word for a similar line of reasoning

John 3:19–21 CSB

This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

One commenter notes:

Ephesians–Philemon Ephesians 5:13–14

The light not only exposes such sin but can also transform the sinner (2 Cor. 4:6). Some inevitably come out of the darkness and respond favorably to the light, and they themselves become light: “for anything that becomes visible is light” (Eph. 5:14). Those who accept the process of reproof and exposure become light in the Lord.

Now the way we expose the darkness of the world around us versus the way we expose darkness in our brothers and sisters who follow Jesus is to be done with wisdom and sensitivity. Exposing the darkness of the world around us is done by living the radically different life that Jesus modeled for us. In living out the principles of the Sermon on the Mount, we set ourselves as a city on a hill that cannot be hidden, bringing light to the surrounding areas. Our works speak to God’s glory and reveal the darkness of the sin around us.

We expose sin in our brothers and sisters by first ensuring that we don’t have the log in our own eye, by dealing with our own sin head on. Only then are we to bring the light to our brother or sister who has reverted to sin. First, we go to them individually and let them know our concern. If nothing changes, we take another person with us. Then we can bring it to the attention of the church at large. The purpose of any of that is the reconciliation of the sinner to God and the sinner to the community. Any other motive will not do. If the motive is being right, that is pride hiding in plain sight. If the motive is to get back at someone, vengeance is the Lord’s and not to be taken by us. Reconciliation of a sinner to God and the community is the only motive that should bring about these types of conversations.

The little poem in verse fourteen gives us hope for what could happen when the light exposes the darkness:

Ephesians 5:14 (CSB)

Therefore it is said:

Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.

This poem uses similar language to a quote from Isaiah 60. I’ll just read the first three verses.

Isaiah 60:1–3 CSB

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord shines over you. For look, darkness will cover the earth, and total darkness the peoples; but the Lord will shine over you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to your shining brightness.

Do you see what happens when the light shines? When the light shines people are drawn to it. The rest of Isaiah 60 goes on to paint a picture of what it will look like when people see the light and are drawn to it: There is a gathering of the nations praising the Lord, all the wrongs will be made right, the Glory of the Lord will dwell among the people at all time. It sounds a lot like Revelation 21. Walking as light has cosmic implications!

Paul tells us to have a radically different life from the pagan Gentiles through imitating God by walking in love, walking as the light and, finally, by walking as wise people.

Walk as wise people (15-21)

Paul continued his use of the walking metaphor by telling us to walk as wise people.

Paul uses three contrasts in order to describe what it looks like to walk in wisdom. The first contrast is not walking as unwise people but as wise people. Often, the dichotomy that we see is the wise person and the fool. That contrast brings to mind Matthew 7:24-27 because of Jesus’ own use of contrasting wise people and fools. Jesus says:

Matthew 7:24–27 CSB

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”

The one who hears Jesus’ words and does them is a wise man. The one who does not act on Jesus’ words is a fool or unwise.

Ephesians–Philemon (Ephesians 5:15–16)

Walking with wisdom [also] means taking full advantage of every opportunity that comes our way. It is not enough to sit back and merely try to avoid evil. Believers must positively seek to use the gifts and graces given to them in a way that helps to further God’s kingdom, taking advantage of every occasion “because the days are evil.”

This phrase “the days are evil” comes from Amos 5:13-15 which says:

Amos 5:13–15 CSB

Therefore, those who have insight will keep silent at such a time, for the days are evil. Pursue good and not evil so that you may live, and the Lord, the God of Armies, will be with you as you have claimed. Hate evil and love good; establish justice at the city gate. Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

This tracks with what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 5:16. The days are evil (filled with the evil done by the people around you), so you are to seek out the good. Or in Jesus’ words, do what Jesus says to do.

The second contrast is similar to the first, and almost parallel:

Ephesians 5:17 CSB

So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

“Understanding what the Lord’s will is” is an active thing. Jesus’ teachings might be helpful here too. We’ve already discussed Matthew 22:37-40, but the Sermon on the Mount is helpful here to. I encourage you to take time to meditate on it this week

The final contrast is the most practical. Ephesians 5:18

Ephesians 5:18 CSB

And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit:

Ephesians–Philemon (Ephesians 5:18–21)

Drunkenness was a problem in the ancient world. In some Greco-Roman religions, drunkenness was even part of the worship experience. … The problem with drunkenness is that it leads to “debauchery,” or “behavior which shows lack of concern or thought for the consequences of an action” (cf. Titus 1:6; 1 Pet. 4:4).

In our world today drunkenness is still a problem. Many alcohol abusers are faithful members of churches around the world and that may be true of one or more of you. Paul says that’s drunkenness shouldn’t mark followers of Jesus, instead being filled by the spirit should!

Walking in wisdom looks like being filled by the Spirit:

Paul says being filled by the spirit indicates at least these four things in verse 19-21:

speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (horizontal)

making music with your heart to God (vertical)

Giving thanks for everything always

submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

As the music guy here at Pillar, it is my duty to point out that two of the four ways that it is indicated we are filled with the Spirit include music.Some people see these verses as a way to strong-arm people into singing, or to justify a particular type of music in worship. I reject those uses of these verses. Paul presents this list as a result of being filled with the Spirit not a way to become filled with the Spirit. This list is an expression of what people who are filled with the Spirit do. To the outsider, it would seem spontaneous, but for those who know these types of people, it is an indication of their character transformation.

The first type of music is a horizontal music, speaking to one another by song.

The second type of music is vertical. This is the same action: singing, but for a different purpose: praise of God.

Spirit-filled walking includes thanksgiving at every turn. Paul regularly encourages his readers to give thanks to God, including twice in our passage today. Earlier in the passage giving thanks was the opposite of the obscene and foolish talking not suitable for followers of Jesus. Here at the end of our passage today it is a general statement: giving thanks for everything is one way that being filled by the Spirit makes itself known.

Finally, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ. How we engage with one another should be a reflection of our fear or reverence for Christ. The one in whom is Christ’s Spirit is the one to whom I am submitting. Just as Cody spoke about our words being the way we can grieve the Holy Spirit, we submit to one another as if we are submitting to the Spirit of Christ in them. This is not about being someone’s doormat. This is not submitting to the abuse of a spouse, family member, or employer. This is about recognition of the Spirit of Jesus in someone else and submitting to Jesus. The main thing I want you to take away is that Paul here is telling his readers that those who are filled with the Spirit submit in humility to one another as if they were submitting to Christ, or put another way: Philippians 2:3–4 they “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.”

Like I mentioned earlier, training to be like Jesus is the expectation of a follow of Jesus, so you are not off the hook. For example, if you don’t participate in congregational singing, the likelihood of you singing spontaneously in praise of God or to someone else is pretty low. If you don’t make a practice of being thankful to God for all things, how can you expect spontaneous thanksgiving in trials? If you don’t act with humility toward other in normal interactions, how will you spontaneously submit to someone else in a disagreement? You have everything you need because you’ve been empowered by the Holy Spirit, but it takes practice and training to imitate Jesus in every area of life.

Application

I want us to see how we can apply today’s passage using Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. If you recall his Social Learning Theory has three parts: Observe, Imitate, Model.

Observe- Observe God’s love as demonstrated in Christ. Romans 5:8 “But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Our condition is one that has us estranged from God. Paul describes it earlier in Ephesians as being dead in our sins. There are two options here: either you are dead in your sin and estranged from God or you are alive by faith in Christ Jesus. There is no in between. If you are in the first group, your sin has you estranged from God, but his invitation is before you: turn away from your sin and turn to Jesus. Let Jesus be King over your life and begin to follow him. If this is where you are, I would be happy to talk to you about that today, there is no more important decision you will make than that one. If you have been made alive and are a follower of Jesus, I encourage you to spend some time this week meditating on God’s love for you. Passages like Philippians 2:5-11, Romans 8:35-39, or 1 John 4:7-19 would be a great place to spend the week meditating on God’s love.

Imitate (individual action) - Imitation is an individual action. What parts of Jesus’ character should you imitate? Or maybe where in your character are you falling short in being like Jesus? I encourage you to spend some time with the Lord to discern an area that he is emphasizing in your life that doesn’t look like Jesus. While we can’t literally drop everything and follow Jesus quite like the disciples did, we can be intentional in imitating the life of Jesus in our own lives. Once you’ve discovered that area, I encourage you to develop a plan in order to train yourself to be more like Jesus; not as a way to earn God’s love, but in response to it. If you want help doing this, I would be honored to sit with you and help you develop this plan. I’ve begun doing this over the past year and it has been an incredibly useful tool in my discipleship to Jesus.

Model (group identity) - A final way I think you can apply this passage is to be part of a group that is engaging in these practices of training to become more like Christ. LifeGroups are a fantastic place to do that. In LifeGroups you have access to accountability and encouragement as you all are walking toward Jesus. In my experience, having a group of people to be regularly accountable to and receive encouragement from has been a catalyst for growth in my walk with Jesus. I hope you choose to be part of one so that you can experience that too.

Oh! and sing more!