Sermon Tone Analysis

! *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.

*

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*Intro*:

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·        We normally think of one's walk as their means of locomotion, or how they move from one place to another.

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·        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.

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·        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.

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*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,/*