01-15-06 walk like an Ephesians
Ephesians 5:1-10
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
3 But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;
4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
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.
Intro:
· We normally think of one's walk as their means of locomotion, or how they move from one place to another.
· Our walk is something that develops early in our lives, somewhere around the age of 1.
· However, there is another sense in which this word is used.
· It can also refer to a person's walk of life. That is, what they do with their life and how they live their life can be described as their walk.
· In the book of Ephesians, Paul uses the word "walk" 6 times.
· Each time he does, he uses it in the sense of one's conduct or manner of living their life.
· He is writing to these Ephesian believers to show them how they are to live their lives as they pass through this world as pilgrims and strangers.
· He is writing to teach them how they are to live their lives.
· I want to touch briefly on each of these 6 verses this morning.
· What Paul told these believers 2,000 years ago is still valid for us, in our world, today.
Let's take a few minutes to look into these verse and learn how to Walk Like An Ephesian.
I. #1*THE WORKING WALK
EPHESIANS 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
!! A. While we are not saved by our good works,
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. , *
1. We are saved to work,
James 2:18
18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” .
2. No amount of good works can produce salvation, but salvation will produce a limitless number of good works
B. God has saved us to serve, and He has prepared the works which we are to do as we pass through this life
1. He has a special assignment for each person He saves.
1 Corinthians 12:7
7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
1 Corinthians 12:11
11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
C. We are His workmanship, (Poem, Masterpiece)
1. He saved us to show us off and let the world know what He can do with sinners
2. He has chosen to paint the glory of His grace and love upon the canvas of our lives
3. He has chosen us to show a lost world what a great God can do with a lost sinner.
D. As we abide in Him, we will have no problem carrying out the assignment which we are given,
John 5:15
15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. .*
II. #2 THE WORTHY WALK
Ephesians 4:1
1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
A. The word "worthy" comes from a word that means "to balance the scales."
1. What Paul is saying here is this: "Let your walk balance with your talk."
2. Simple stated, we are called upon to be what we claim to believe!
B. How are we doing with that
1. This verse reminds us that we have been called by God to a part of His saving plan
2. We are to walk "worthy" of that calling
C. We are to balance our lives with the fact the He has called us
1 Pet. 2:9
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
D. If we are Christians, we should be working on that balancing act of ours!
III.#3 THE WHOLEHEARTED WALK
Ephesians 4:17
17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
A. Paul's emphasis in this verse is that believers ought to be different!
1. We have been saved we should not live like the world around us
2. Remember, those who are in Jesus are "new creatures",
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
B. The corruption and vice of the Ephesus of Paul's day
1. It was a wicked city filled with wicked men and wicked worship
2. The Temple of Diana (Artemis) was there,*
Acts 19:24-28
24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen;
25 these he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business.
26 “You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all.
27 “Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence.”
*28 When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
a) It was a place associated with paganism, prostitution and crime
b) The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said this about Ephesus and the Ephesians,
(1) "the darkness of vileness. The morals were lower than animals and the inhabitants of Ephesus were fit only to be drowned."
c) Ephesus was no easy place to live
d) But, Paul calls upon them to be different!
C. The same clear lines of demarcation should still exist between the people of the Lord and the world around us!
D. We have been saved to be different.
1. The way to do this is to avoid the path of the lost,
Ephesians 4:17-19
17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. , *
2. Walk in the path of life,
Ephesians 4:20-32
20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.
28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.
29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.. *
3. We can live for God!
IV. #4 THE WONDERFUL WALK
Ephesians 5:2
2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
A. Paul tells the Ephesians that their lives are to be characterized by love
B. Love was to be the defining trait of His disciples,
John 13:35
35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
C. The love Paul refers to here is the word "agape". We know that this refers to "God's kind of love."
D. It is unconditional that is based on a conscious choice, after close evaluation
1. In other words, it means to love someone in spite of what they are, what they have done, or what you know about them
2. It is loving like Jesus. Spelled out clearly in
1 Corinthians 13:1-8
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. .*
E. This love should be evident in our lives in three areas.
1. Love For The Savior –
Matthew 22:37
37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
a) This kind of love will keep us Holy.
2. Love For The Saint –
1 John 3:14
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
a) This kind of love will keep us Humble.
(1) (By the way, if you can't love a brother, your claim to love God is a lie,
1 John 4:20
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. .
3. Love For The Sinner –
Matthew 22:39
39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
a) When we learn to love the lost around us like Jesus does, this kind of love will keep us Hot!
F. The ability to love this way is not natural, but it is the supernatural work of God in us!
V. #5 THE WITNESSING WALK
Ephesians 5:8
8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light
A. Note the contrast in this verse
1. We "were darkness", lost folks still are. Now we "are light".
B. Our whole nature has been changed
1. we are to live that change out before a world trapped in darkness.
Matthew 5:16
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.
C. It is not just enough to walk in the light, we are light
2 Peter 1:4
4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
John 9:5
5 “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”
Matthew 5:14
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;
D. Because who are who we are by the power of God, we are to live out the Light of God's truth in every moment of life!
VI. #6 THE WISE WALK
Ephesians 5:15
15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,
A. The word "circumspectly" means, "accurately, exactly, diligently." Paul's call is for believers to walk with their eyes open
B. We are to watch each step we take, looking diligently for the snares of the devil,
1 Peter 5:8
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
C. Watching for the opportunities of the Lord,
John 5:19-20
19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
20 “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. .
D. The idea of this verse is two-fold.
1. We can either live our lives like fools.
a) We can fall for the devil's traps
b) We can walk in disobedience
c) Or something simple as living your life for the wrong things
d) All those make for foolish living
E. Or, we can live as wise men
1. This means that we make every minute count for the glory of the Lord,
Ephesians 5:16
16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. *