In Our Father’s Steps

The word followers in Ephesians 5:1 is mimics, so the verse can be translated "Be ye imitators of God as beloved children." This sets the theme for the section. Paul argued that children are like their parents, which can be encouraging and embarrassing to those of us who have children. Have you ever seen a child sitting in the front seat of an automobile, trying to drive like his father? Or walking behind him, pretending to mow the lawn? Or, sad to say, imitating Dad smoking a cigarette or taking a drink of alcohol? Children learn more by watching and imitating than any other way.

If we are the children of God, then we ought to imitate our Father.

This is the basis for the three admonitions in this section. God is love

(1 John 4:8); therefore, "walk in love" (Eph. 5:1-2). God is light (1 John

1:5); therefore, "walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:3-14). God is truth

(1 John 5:6); therefore, walk in wisdom (Eph. 5:15-17). Of course, these "walks" are part of Paul's exhortation to "walk in purity."

1. WALK IN LOVE (5:1-2)

This admonition ties in with the last two verses of the previous chapter, where Paul has warned us against bitterness and anger. It is tragic when these attitudes show up in the family of God. As a pastor, I have witnessed malice and bitterness in people’s lives as I have conducted funerals and even weddings. You would chink that sharing the sorrow of losing a loved one, or sharing a joy of a marriage, would enable people to forgive past wrongs and try to get along with each other. But such is not the case. It takes real love in the heart, for "charity (love) shall cover the multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8).

Paul gave several reasons why Christians ought to walk in love.

He is God's child. Having been born again through faith in Christ, he is, therefore, one of the "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4), and since "God is love,” it is logical that God's children will walk in love. When Paul encouraged his readers to "Walk in love," he was not asking them to do something foreign to the Christian life: for we have received a new nature that wants to express itself in love. The old nature is selfish, and for this reason, builds walls and declares war. But the new nature is loving, building bridges, and proclaiming peace.

He is God's beloved child. "Be ye imitators of God as beloved children." Imagine God speaks of us the same way He spoke of Jesus Christ:

"This is my beloved Son" (Matt. 3:17). In fact, the Father loves us as He loves His Son (John 17:23). We are born into a loving relationship with the Father that ought to result in our showing love to Him by the way we live. What more could the Father do to express His love to us? Is it asking too much for us to "walk in love" to please Him?

He was purchased at a great price. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). But He laid down His life for His enemies (Rom. 5:10). Our love for Him is our response to His love for us. Paul compared Christ's sacrifice on the cross to the Old Testament "sweet savor" sacrifices that were presented at the altar of the temple (Lev. 1:9, 13, 17; 2:9). The idea behind "sweet savor" is simply that the sacrifice is well pleasing to God. This does not suggest that God is pleased that sin demands death and that His Son had to die to save lost sinners. Instead, it indicates that the death of Christ satisfies the holy law of God and, therefore, is acceptable and pleasing to the Father. The sweet-savor offerings are described in Leviticus 1-3: the burnt offering, the meal offer-ing, and the peace offering. The burnt offering pictures Christ's complete devotion to God; the meal offering, His perfection of character; and the peace offering, His making peace between sinners and God. Since the sin and trespass offerings (Lev. 4 —5) picture Christ taking the sinner’s place, they are not considered "sweet-savor" offerings. Certainly nothing is beautiful about sin!

Paul began with "walk in love" because love is the fundamental factor in the Christian life. If we walk in love, we will not disobey God or injure men because "he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law" (Rom. 13:8).

The Holy Spirit puts this love in our hearts (Rom. 5:5).

2. Walk as children of light (5:3-14)

We are saints (wx. 3-4).

We are "set apart ones" and no longer a part of the world of darkness around us. Have we been "called out of the darkness as into his marvelous light? (I Peter 29). It is beneath the dignity of a saro to indulge in the sins that belong to the world of darkness, the same of which Paul named here.

They were prevalent in that day and are prevalent today. They have destroyed the homes of Christians and brought destruction to churches, too. "Covetousness" may seem out of place next to fornication, but the two sins are deficient impulses of the same basic weakness of fallen nature—uncontrolled appetite. The fornicator and the covetous person each desire to satisfy their hunger by taking what does not belong to them.

2416 would describe these two sins. Let there not be even a hint of these

sins!" said Paul. In Ephesians 2:4, he warned against sins of the tongue, which, of course, are sins of the heart. It is easy to see the relationship between the sins named in Ephesians:5 and those in Ephesians :. People who have base appetites usually cultivate a base kind of speech and humor, and often, people who want to commit sexual sins, or have committed them, enjoy jesting about them. Two indications of a person's character are what makes him laugh and what makes him weep. The saint of God sees nothing humorous in obscene language or jests. "Foolish talking" does not mean innocent humor but rather a senseless conversation that cheapens the man and does not edify or minister grace to the hearers (Eph. 4:29). Paul was not condemning small talk because much conversation falls into that Pacification. He condemned foolish talk that had no good purpose.

Jesting is a translation of a word that means able to turn quickly. This suggests a certain kind of conversationalist who can turn any statement

into a coarse jest. The gift of wit is a blessing, but when it is attached to a filthy mind or a base motive, it becomes a curse. Some quick-witted people can pollute any conversation with jests that are always inconvenient (out of place). How much better it is for us to be quick to give thanks! This is undoubtedly the best way to give glory to God and keep the conversation pure.

Coarse humor degraded everything that the Christian guest held to be sacred and honorable. At one point in the program, the comedian’s throat became dry. "Please bring me a glass of water," he called to Walter.

Ar that point the Christian woman added, "And bring a toothbrush and a bar of soap with id To be sure, soap in the mouth will never cleanse the conversation, bot she made her point.

Christians who have God’s Word in their hearts (Col, 3:16) will always reason their speech with salt (Col, 4:6), for grace in the heart means grace on the lips.

We are kings (vv, 5-6);

When we trusted Christ, we entered into the kingdom of God (John 313), but we are also awaiting the full revelation of His kingdom when He returns (2 Tim 4:3), Paul made it clear that people who deliberately and persistently live in sin will nor share in God's kingdom. "They which practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal. 5:21, literal translation), "Whoremonger" is a translation of de Greek’s word pornos, from which we get our word pornography. It means one who practices fornication-—illicit sex."

The morally unclean sod the covetous will join the fornicator in judgment. Paul equated cove tones with idolatry, for it is worshiping something other than God.

The warnings deal with the habitual practice of sin, not the occasional personal act of sin. David committed adultery, yet God forgave him and one day took him to heaven. Indeed, David was disciplined for his sin, but God accepted him.

In Paul's day, there were false Christians who argued that believers could live in sin and get away with it. These deceivers had many arguments to convince ignorant Christians that they could sin repeatedly and still enter God’s kingdom, "You were saved by grace!" they argued, "Therefore you said and the sin that God's grace might abound!" Paul answered that foolish argument in Romans six. “Sin in the life of a believer is different from sin the life of an unsaved person!" Yes-it's worse! God judges sin no matter where He finds it, and He does not want to see it in the life of one of His own children. I believe that no faithful Christian can ever be lost, but he will prove the reality of his faith by an obedient life.

Many professors are not possessors (Matt. 7:21-23). A Christian is not sinless, but he does sin less and less—and less! The Christian is a king, and it is beneath his dignity to indulge in the practices of the lost world that is outside the kingdom of God.

We are light (w. 7-14).

This figure is the main thrust of the passage. for Paul admonished his readers to "walk as children of light." You will want to read 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 for a parallel passage explaining the contrasts between the child of God and the unsaved person. Paul did not say we were "in the darkness" but "were darkness." Now that we are saved, "what communion hath light with darkness?" After all, light produces fruit, but the works of darkness are unfruitful regarding spiritual things. "For the fruit of the Spirit (or "the light") is in all goodness and righteousness and truth." It is impossible to be in darkness and light at the same time!

The light produces "goodness," one manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). Goodness is "love in action." Righteousness means rightness of character before God and rightness of actions before men. Both of these qualities are based on truth, which is conformity to the Word and will of God.

Jesus had much to say about light and darkness. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matt, 5:16. "Everyone that does with evil hath the light, neither comes to the light, list, his deeds should be reproved. But he that do with truth, to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are rot in God John 3:20-21 .

Opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do" (Heb. 4:13). Every time I take a plane to a meeting. I must surrender myself and my luggage to a special inspection, and I am happy to do so because this inspection helps to detect bombs. I have never been afraid to walk through the "detection tunnel" or have my luggage pass through the X-ray equipment because I have nothing to hide.

An author asked Charles Spurgeon for permission to write his life story, and the great preacher replied, "You may write my life in the skies—1 have nothing to hide!

Bur walking "as children of light" also means revealing God's light in our daily lives. Our character and conduct bring God's light into a dark world. As God's lights, we help others find their way to Christ. The sight of the unsaved person is blinded by Satan (2 Cor. 4:3-4) and sin (ph. 4:17-19). Only as we witness and share Christ can the light enter in.

A healthy person can assist the sick, and a child of God can lead the lost out of darkness into God's marvelous light.

Light reveals God; light produces fruit, but light also exposes what is wrong; no surgeon would willingly operate in darkness lest he makes a false sore and takes a life. How could an artist paint an accurate picture in darkness?

The light reveals the truth and exposes the true character of things. This is why the unsaved person avoids the church and the Bible. God's light shows a person’s true character, but the exposure is not very complimentary. As we Christians walk in the light, we refuse to fellowship with the sakes and expose the dark things of sin for what they are.

I am come a light into the world," said Jesus (John 12:46). He also said to His disciples, "Ye are the light of the world" (Matt. 5:14).

It is indeed a high calling to imitate God and to walk in love after the measure of Christ, but it will be impossible unless we open our innermost hearts to the Holy Spirit. We must not only sacrifice ourselves for others but there should be a fragrance in all that we do. “An odor of a sweet smell.” Note carefully the injunctions of Eph 5:3-4, primarily as they concern speech. By our speech, we betray the proper condition of our hearts.

We must be as distinct from the worldly as light is from darkness. There should be no twilight in our testimony for our Lord, though there may be considerable obscurity in our views of truth. Whatever is unfruitful, whatever we should blush to have transcribed and read to the world, whatever would be inconsistent with the intense, clear light of the throne of God and the Lamb, must be avoided. We must walk in the light of the Lord. Then we ourselves shall become luminous, as some diamonds do after being held in sunshine. People who love darkness will avoid and hate us; but their treatment may be only a cause for our own encouragement, as God becomes increasingly precious to us.

When you think of light, you think of waking up to a new day, and Paul presented this picture (Eph. 5:14); paraphrasing Isaiah 60:1, you have The same image in Romans 13:11-13 and 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10. That Easter morning, when Christ arose from the dead, was the dawning of a day for the world. Christians are not sleeping in sin and death. We have been raised from the dead through faith in Him. The darkness of the graveyard is past, and we are now walking in the light of salvation. Salvation is the beginning of a new day, and we ought to live as those who belong the light, not to the darkness. "Lazarus, come forth!"

The believer has no business in darkness. He is a saint, which means he is a partaker "of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12). He is sitting because he has been delivered "from the power of darkness" and has been translated into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Col. 1:13). He is light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:8).