Be Imitators of God (part 2) Ephesians 5:6-14
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: Talk about the United Methodist Church collapse. Since 2019 almost 8,000 United Methodist Churches have split away from the denomination to join other denominations. The split is primarily over differences in theology. Particularly of over how the church considers LGBTQ+ ministers and congregants. The churches that stayed accepted and supported the decision to allow LGBTQ+ people to be ordained ministers and lead churches. The churches that left believe that this is in direct violation of scripture. Scripture says that those who practice this type of lifestyle will not have an inheritance in the Kingdom of God.
There were about 30,000 United Methodist Churches in the United States. A little less than 8,000 split away. Not a big deal right. The big deal comes from half of each of those other 22,000 congregations leaving the denomination.
All of this came about because somebody began to preach a counterfeit gospel. As the idea spread many more were deceived and led astray. All because of one verse. One verse that was misinterpreted and taken out of context to mean something completely different than what it means. The darkness of the lie spreading through the denomination over 30 or 40 years changed everything. The same lie has spread through other denominations as well. This passage speaks to the lie, to the deceit to the evil deeds of the sons of disobedience.
Ephesians 5:6–14 (NASB95)
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 the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds 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.”
Transitional Sentence: You are a child of Light, when the light shines in the darkness, the darkness flees; so Be Light.
The passage today begins with a warning: Let no one deceive you with empty words. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia defines Deceit as: The intentional misleading or beguiling of another; in Scripture it is represented as a companion of many other forms of wickedness, cursing, hatred, theft, covetousness, adultery and murder
Mark 7:21-22 says:
21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.
Besides the warning not to give the Devil an opportunity this is the first warning Paul has given against something outside of your sphere of influence. Everything else has been about what is going on inside of you. This is the first outside influence mentioned.
And the warning is valid. There are many people who would like to mislead you or beguile you with -
a. Empty words. Now that’s an interesting idea. Empty words. The idea is that these words are void of any usefulness. They have no power to save or even to help someone grow in their faith.
In the context of the letter the empty words that Paul is warning the church to avoid are the teachings of the group they called the “Circumcision” or the “Judaizers.”
Ephesians 2:11 says:
11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—
This group of Jewish Christians were coming in behind Paul and telling the Gentile Christians that there is no justification through faith. It was necessary for them to be circumcised and to follow the law of Moses in order to be saved. This was a complete contradiction to Paul’s grace by faith.
So, those were the empty words when Paul wrote this letter. There wouldn’t have been all that many people teaching about Christianity then. But what about now? There are so many teachers. It is very easy to watch someone on t.v., listen to a podcast, or read a book. What kind of empty words could they be teaching and what should you beware of now?
Here is a list of counterfeit gospels presented by the GospelCoalition.org. This list is not all encompassing and I have provided the short explanation of what it is for some of them.
1. Formalist Gospel - Sin is failing to keep church rules and regulations. Christ’s death gives me an agenda, so I can begin to follow the prescribed forms of Christianity.
2. Moralist Gospel
3. Judgmentless Gospel - God’s forgiveness does not need to come through the sacrifice of His Son. Judgment is more about God’s goodness, not the need for human rebellion to be punished. Evangelism is not urgent.
4. Social-Club Gospel - Salvation is all about finding fellowship and friendship at church. The gospel is reduced to Christian relationships that help us enjoy life.
5. Activist Gospel
6. Churchless Gospel
7. Mystic Gospel - Salvation comes through an emotional experience with God. The church is there to help me feel close to God by helping me along in my pursuit of mystical union.
8. Quietist Gospel
All of these messages are counterfeit. However they aren’t out right lies. Salvation can come through an emotional experience with God if it brings a person to a point of accepting Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior through faith. In that respect they all have a hint of the truth. They are wrong enough be noticeable wrong but right enough to seem like they are right if they are not subjected to the true light of scripture.
The problem with empty words like these are that people will have a false sense of the truth. Those who believe counterfeit gospel messages could be walking in darkness and not even know it. And those who teach counterfeit gospels; well upon them will come the wrath of God.
b. The wrath of God will fall upon them because that is what happens to the Sons of Disobedience.
The term the sons of disobedience covers all those who willfully disobey authority and the word of God. Part of disobeying is lying to or deceiving others. It doesn’t really matter why. It could be a good reason or for a bad reason. Either way it is wrong and there will be consequences. The sons of disobedience will incur the wrath of God. All those who are under wrath will not have an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.
But who are the sons of disobedience? Verse seven of the passage today uses the word them.
c. Them is a rather vague term. Unless there is some other descriptor tied to the word or it points back to something previously said then them could almost be anybody. In this particular case them is pointing back to
11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—
You see the sons of disobedience are the circumcision crowd. They are the ones trying to sell a different gospel to the church in Ephesus. The circumcision crowd is against grace by faith. For them justification only comes through the law and circumcision. Unfortunate, truly unfortunate.
But doesn’t the same thing happen now? Isn’t there a them now? Think about that list of counterfeit gospels. There must be someone out there pushing the idea or it wouldn’t be a thing.
So who do you know that might be pushing a counterfeit gospel?
What about the mainline denominations that are selling a gospel where sexual immorality is acceptable and even praised. Romans 1:26-27
26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
Points directly to the wrath of God coming upon those who live this type of lifestyle.
Today’s scripture even tells us to not be a partaker in their disobedience. For those who agree with the sin and approve of it will also be judged by God as a partaker in the sin and will also suffer God’s wrath.
2. So then be Light.
a. For you were formerly darkness. Once again Paul is reminding the Ephesians and you that you were once something else. You were darkness. These things are the things of darkness.
This isn’t the first time Paul reminds the Ephesians and you who you were before Christ Jesus. 2:1&2 says that you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2:11 says you were formerly Gentiles in the flesh, 4:12 is a reminder to no longer walk in the futility of your mind with a calloused heart. Those and others are things of your former life in darkness as a son of disobedience. But that is no longer you.
You are a child of light now. You are light in the Lord. So walk as a child of Light. What changed? Well children of God are children of Light because Jesus is light. John 12:46 says:
46 “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.
So all those who believe in Jesus are Children of light. As a child of light you are to walk in the light. That means to stop doing the things of darkness. All of those put off’s Paul has talked about, all of that is darkness. All of those put off’s cause a child of light to stumble in their walk. All of that stuff will cause you to stumble as you continue your walk in the light.
But just what is the Light? Ephesians 5:9 says:
9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
b. So Light is all Goodness and righteousness and truth.
GOODNESS—in man is not a mere passive quality, but the deliberate preference of right to wrong, the firm and persistent resistance of all moral evil, and the choosing and following of all moral good.
RIGHTEOUSNESS - The quality, state, and characteristic of being in the right. The English word “righteousness” refers to the quality of being righteous or in the right and is cognate to “just,” “justness,” and “justice”
Truth - conveys a sense of being in accordance with fact or reality, as opposed to being false or in error.
All three of these attributes of the light are purposeful. To put on goodness is to choose right over wrong and good over evil. To put on righteousness is a matter of choosing to be just. And putting on Truth is a matter of choosing to not be false.
So choose the light, choose goodness, Righteousness and truth. If you are a child of Light, walk like a child of light.
c. And as you walk try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Now that’s an interesting idea. What is pleasing to the Lord?
Here’s a few ways to please the Lord.
1. Submit to His authority in your life.
2. Receive Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior.
3. Request and receive His forgiveness for the sins you have committed.
4. As a child of light, walk as a child of light. So model your life after Jesus. In other words put off the old self and put on the new self.
5. Micah 6:8 says:
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
So, do justice, love and do kindness and walk humbly before Him.
6. There are others such as doing good, sharing and being obedient to His word. But if you do what today’s passage says: Choose Goodness, Righteousness and Truth you will be on your way to learning how to please God.
Learning to please God means that you will leave the darkness and walk in the light.
3. Which means there might be things that you do that you might need to put off so that you can stop participating in the darkness. But what does that mean. Well to begin with everyone has to make chooses in this regard based on the leading of the Holy Spirit. But there are some things that should certainly be put off.
a. Stop participating in the darkness by:
Riding yourself of addictions. 1 Corinthians 6:12 says:
12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
Things that are a master to you, are things that you are addicted to. Things such as alcohol, drugs, coffee, tobacco, sugar and there are many other illegal and legal substances which may have mastery over you.
Perhaps your addiction isn’t a substance, perhaps its a behavior. Maybe you have an addiction to pornography. That was my greatest issue when I became a child of Light. It’s also the top addiction for men in this country. Other addictions could be, gambling, eating, shoplifting or other risky behaviors, video gaming and even the internet. That’s right the internet. You know sitting there scrolling on your device for hours.
In other countries getting rid of the darkness may include burning fetishes and charms. Especially if they are attached to an evil spirit.
There may also be things in your life that you may feel led by the Holy Spirit to get out of your life just because they are not edifying or would be displeasing to the Lord.
Amy and I used to have a huge collection of movies. Living overseas we didn’t have television so we collected movies. They were cheap at the base exchange. Many of them were good movies but they were not necessarily nice movies. As we prayed about things in our lives that needed to be changed we felt led to ditch the movies that we felt were unacceptable. So we went through our collection, disc by disc. The ones that we felt needed to go - went. We figured if we wouldn’t want our children to watch it then it went in the rubbish. It was hard, but necessary.
Perhaps the thing that needs changing for you isn’t any of this at all. Perhaps it’s a change of life style that you need. I knew one man who after walking into the light quite his job because he worked in a bar. He could no longer justify selling an addictive substance to others.
Pray, ask the Lord what He would have you do to stop participating in the darkness.
Through your prayers and contemplation the light will shine on whatever needs to be changed.
b. Once the light shines on the secret deeds of disobedience the issue will become visible. Once the deeds are visible steps can be taken to remove them. Nothing stays hidden in the light. Only secrets that are locked away and kept from the light will survive. That is why we have to let the Holy Spirit have every nook and cranny of our being. Expose all the evil.
Have you ever been in a completely black space? It can be very unnerving. But the light chases away the darkness. At least enough to bring comfort. In the Army when we were out in the field training we had to practice light discipline. We weren’t supposed to use lights because it would give away our position. Outside in the field you can see a flashlight shining more than 10 miles away if you had a clear line of sight to that point.
It’s the same in your heart. You can struggle to keep your secrets away from the light or you can simply open everything and let the light shine on everything so it would be visible. When you are full of light, the light of Christ Jesus shining in you can help expose the sins of non-believers. When the sins of non-believers are exposed then there will be an opportunity to help that person realize that they also need the salvation that comes through the blood of Christ Jesus.
So, believe and let the light shine on you so that you may be full of light just as Christ Jesus is light, not darkness like the sons of disobedience.
c. So rise up sleeper. Arise from the dead. Those who are asleep, sleep in darkness and death. Only the light of Christ Jesus can awaken the dead and bring life. Are you asleep? Are you still dead in your sins? Let the light of Christ shine on you and arise from the dead. So when the light of Christ Jesus shines on you it will expose the darkness in you. Then you will have the light of Christ in you. Then you can help others see the light by letting the light of Christ shine through you. Those you meet can in turn open themselves to the life giving light of Christ Jesus. Then they too can rise from the dead and find new life.
16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Exit: Remember, Christ Jesus is the light. His light is truth and His light exposes the secret sins that people hold in their hearts. Secret sins that deceive and beguile others. Secret sins that will lead you astray if you partake or participate in their empty words. So, let the light of Christ shine. Let it expose the deeds of the sons of disobedience. Let it awaken the sleeper and raise them from the dead.
Christ’s light shining through you may be all the light that is necessary to raise someone from the dead.
So let your light shine.
Pray!