Remember Who You Are | Ephesians 5:6-10

Intro

Hey y’all, hows it going?

Welcome to the last night in the Chapel. Next week we will be outside for big church party, which y’all should come to. It’ll be fun!

Who is ready for school to be out? Seniors? How you feeling? Checked out yet?

Also seniors, if you didn’t know, this is your last time in here as a regular student.

You are always welcome back, you always have a place. But tonight is the last night in the chapel for y’all.

It has been a good year.

So as we head in to summer, I want to you to think about what your summer is going to look like.

I know right some of y’all are still stressing through finals, or seniors you are mentally checked out, but summer is going to be about getting ready to move.

Our minds are a million places right now.

And I remember how I was when I was your age, all i thought about was hanging with friends, or making the most of summer, or can’t wait for camp.

Pick one, I was that kids.

But as we go into summer, I want you to think.

How am i going to spend it? What am I going to focus on?

The past few months in here we have talked a good bit about spiritual formation, and how a life of following jesus takes your whole life. That following Jesus is more than mental assent but it involves picking up your feet and walking with Him.

So this is where I want us end our semester in here.

I want to encourage you to go in to summer looking at how you can pick up your feet and follow Jesus.

So let’s get in to it.

How many of you know who Chipper Jones is? if you like baseball, legendary HOF Atlanta Braves 3rd baseman. Dude had over 3000 hits, switch hitter, he could bat either right handed or left handed. Dude was crazy good.

Chipper rarely would get in to slumps hitting, but when he did he did something cool that not a lot of MLB players would do.

Chipper would go home. He’d go home and ask his dad, hey, what am I doing? And his dad was not a ball player. But his dad taught him how to play ball. He taught him the swing.

And basically what his dad would do is just remind him, “Hey, you’re Chipper Jones. Get out there and hit the ball.” He’d work with him. and boom, chipper is back to hitting nukes form both sides of the plate.

Literally sometimes Chipper would just call him, if they were on the road, and he could fix what was going on over the phone.

it was wild all he had to do was either go home or call home, and it would fix what ever was going on.

And this is kinda where I want to hangout tonight.

This idea of remembering who you are.

I think a lot of the time in this world we forget that if we are followers of Jesus, we are made new, we are new creations. But we will forget that.

We start to try and do things in our own power.

We struggle in our own power.

When we do that, we get off.

So this is my goal tonight. Remind you who you are. Not in a way that places the burden on you, but in a way that centers your identity on Christ. And when you get off, come back home.

Context

So with that, if you have a bible open up to Ephesians 5:6-10, we are going to be kinda all over chapter 5, but I want to key in here on these verse.

If you don’t have a bible throw a hand up and we will get one to you.

Who needs a bible?

Aight cool.

So last week we finished up the book of Philippians, where Paul was teaching how to live as a community following after Christ. Following the Way of Christ.

Ephesians is similar, there is a good bit of Theology in Ephesians. Some scholars have put it as Romans light.

But basically, Ephesians is starts by teaching, that in Christ we are made new. We are saved by grace alone. We get to have the grace of God cover all of our lives. Then the latter half is Paul unpacking what that means for the church, for families and for individuals.

So it is similar to Philippians. But more broad scope in theology and implications.

But the city of Ephesus and Philippians are different.

Ephesus is one of the religious centers of the Roman world. It was a big city. Lots of people. and the main religion of Ephesus was Worship of Artimus, one of the Roman gods.

And in Ephesus was all manner of wildness and wickedness. And in the middle of that context, Paul writes them to encourage them and to teach them.

Paul is reminding them, “You are a child of God, act like it. Don’t forget it. You have been made new. Live like you are new.”

So here is the main idea, the main thing I want you to think about as we go form here and start gearing up for summer. If you are a follower of Christ, remember who you are, not who’ve been.

So, everyone in Ephesians? Cool,

Eph. 5:6-10 lets read this together. but before we do that, let’s pray for our time in the word.

Pray

Read this with me. Eph. 5:6-10

Ephesians 5:6–10 ESV

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 become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

P1 - Who were you?

So I chose to start the passage to night right smack in the middle of the chapter. I want us to work from the inside out.

Paul says, “Let no one deceive you with empty words”

So what was going on in Ephesus was two things, the culture was not dissimilar to where we find ourselves today.

The sexual ethic of the day was pretty much anything goes. The biggest form of worship in the city, at the temple of atriums involves temple prostitution. So pretty much this sexual ethic of anything goes was the norm. Sounds familiar.

So what was happening in the church at Ephesus was, this idea that you can live how ever you want, just as long as you love Jesus.

Paul is telling them, don’t fall for it. You can’t follow Jesus and live like the world does. It doesn’t work like that.

It’s like shady marketing.

Have y’all ever seen advertisement that just sounds suspicious? So when I was like 11 or 12, there was a push try get kids to drink more water, one cause water is really good for you and two, all we drank was coke and sweet tea. Which is just sugar.

But i remember Coke got slick, on the back of the 12 pack, there was a little blurb that basically said, “you know water is good for you, coke is made from water, you can drink coke to rehydrate you.”

Now imagine we are at camp, and this year it’s in Mobile so this could be pretty close. Its 102 feels like 105, if all you drink all week is coke or Dr Pepper. no water, what is going to happen to you on site on Thursday? You’re gonna be passed out. You’re gonna have a heat stroke. Why? Cause Coke is lying to you. you didn’t drink any water.

Paul is saying Don’t let them tell you other wise, don’t let them deceive you.

And this is the age old lie, you can still eat the fruit.

Don’t let them deceive you.

So here is where the rub comes.

In the church, they are living one way ,following Jesus, but their friends neighbors, families were still living like this.

And wondering, why? Why are you not doing what we have always done here? This is fine, it’s normal, it’s good for you to do.

The church is brushing up against the culture

and the culture is saying,

“We are Rome, the most powerful empire the world has ever known, I think we know what we are talking about.”

Paul is telling them, do not be deceived. You cannot have it both ways.

So what does this sound like?

it sounds like exactly where we live right now. It sounds like our culture right down to a T.

Look at what american culture is saying right now. you can live how ever you want, and do what ever with who ever for what ever.

Paul is telling them, this is what you have been saved out of. Remember who you are, not who you were.

That is what the world is trying to pull them back into, who they were.

This is the daily struggle for us here, this is why we have to preach the gospel to ourselves, before we can preach the gospel to others. because we need to be reminded that who were once were is dead. But we keep trying to dig them back up.

Remember who you are.

P2 - Who are you?

And so here is the question you need to figure out, who are you?

Look at what Paul is saying. If you are a follower of Jesus.

You were children of darkness, but now you are children of Light. Walk as Children of light.

And so what is Paul getting at here?

I love that he is using the language of children.

Children of the Lord.

So this is what the Romans at Ephesus would have heard. They would have heard adoption.

Because Look at it, you were children of darkness, now in the light of the Lord, “Walk as Children of Light.”

In the Roman world, adoption was a serious thing.

To be adopted by a Roman citizen was to be permanently changed. There was no give backs.

See a Roman father, could disown his children, he could do what ever he wanted with them. He could sell them, he could trade them, he could even kill them if he wanted to.

But not adopted kids.

If a roman citizen adopted someone, it was permanent, they couldn’t be sold, they couldn’t be disowned, they were always a child of that family. It was like they had always been that.

They would have heard, adoption language.

You were once this, but now you are a child. You have been adopted. Something has changed.

God has made you one of his, God has adopted you, this is what they would have heard.

And what is cool about adoption, one of our close friends back in new Orleans go to adopt their son, and one of the the things they said, was when they adopted their son, all of the paper work, all the way back to the birth certificate gets changed, so the paper trail is consistent. It gets changed to the new last name. So 100 years from now, if some one pulls the records it will look like they were always their son. Always their daughter.

It will be indistinguishable.

This is the sort of relationship Paul is reminding us that we have with God. That we are adopted, that we are made new. We can’t live like we once were, because we are no longer that way. We are fundamentally different now.

So who are you? you are a child of God.

P3 - Where are you going? or Who are you going to be?

And so what does Paul tell them to do? starting at the end of verse 8

Ephesians 5:8–10 (ESV)

8 Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

Paul says to Walk and Discern.

Discern means to gain understanding. how do you do that, by listening.

We are to walk and understand, follow and become.

So here is a grammar quiz you weren’t expecting.

What part of speech is Walk? Thats a verb.

What part of speech is discern? Also a verb.

So what does this mean?

It means we have to play a part in the action of these things. If we are to walk, we have to pick up our feet, if we are to discern, we have to listen and understand.

If we are to follow, we have see, if we are to become, we have to be with.

And so this is my question for you.

Where are you going and who are you going to be?

I want you to think about this, it’s our last time being in here until the next school year, I want you to think about this as you go in to and on in to summer. I’ll ask you in summer, who did you become, where are you going?

So, where are you going and who are you going to be?

In writing this, I was reminded of a passage out of the sermon on the mount, from Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus gives a warning. It’s the same warning Paul is giving, but jesus gives the final destination. Listen to what He says in the sermon on the mount.

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

This is a haunting passage.

This is the picture that it gives. There are people who will live their entire life dancing around Jesus, using the same words, even doing good things in Jesus name, but they will not have spent time with him, nor will they have become like him.

They will not actually know Jesus.

This statement by Jesus hits home here in Gray Ga, Here in the south. Because, even in this culture, everyone is a christian, I know that isn’t true. But the perception is still, “well my mom was a christian, my grandma went to church” or “I’m a good person!”

none of that matters.

in Pauls words, you are either darkness or a child of light. In the dark there is no life.

Life only exists where there is light.

P2Christ - Remember who and whose you are.

So this is what I want to leave you with for the year, Remember who and whose you are.

Remember that if you are a follower of Christ, then your main goal is to not learn about Jesus, but to become like Jesus. When you feel like you are in a slump, come back home, call out Jesus He can fix you.

Remember that you were bought on the cross, and made new, that you have been adopted into the kingdom as a son or daughter of the king.

Remember who you are.

Take this summer to become like Jesus. Take this summer to set up your rhythms of life. I know we are all insanely busy, but take this summer to slow down, take this summer to start becoming like Jesus.

So here is the invitation.

If you are a follow of Jesus, remind yourself daily of your need of the gospel. This is the good news, that Christ is ruling and reigning on the throne.

That Christ is risen and you have been set free.

If you are not a follower of Jesus, then we have good news, Christ is risen. This world is broken and so are you and so are we, but with out Jesus you will stay broken and trapped by your sin. With out the gospel all is lost and nothing has meaning because it will one day fade away.

All that matters is do you know Jesus.

So ask yourself do I know him? Not about him, but know Him? What will you hear on the day you pass in to eternity? And where will you eternally stay? In ultimate hope and eternal life or eternal wrath and sin?

The Gospel is calling, Jesus is calling.

So what we are going to do here in a second is pray, confess and sing, while we are doing that. Ask yourself, do I know Him? Do I know Him as Savior, Do I know him as Lord?

Come see Christ as Lord, Come see Christ as king.

Pray with me