Children of Light
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1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no 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 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. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Eph 5
Who hear has ever bought a knock off brand or imitation product?
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
When I lived in Chicago I would see all sorts of shops and guys selling imitation rolexes, Prada and Gucci, Nikes and Jordan shoes.
Likewise when, “professor McNay” and I were in Ukraine, we saw imitation Starbucks, Pepsi, and other products.
The word imitation can have negative connotations in our culture
Paul says we are to be imitators of God
Imitation can have negative connotations in our culture
you don’t want the imitation you want the real thing
Imitation, knock offs, wannabe, fake products - the imitation is not as good as the real thing
When we were first married I wanted to by a pair of Michael Jordan shoes to play basketball… the problem they were hundreds of dollars… so i found the same pair being sold in China.
They said they were the real thing, but at a fraction of the price.
I bought them and to this day i have never had a pair of shoes that hurt my feet so bad.
Imitation
clothes, purses, coffee etc.
So yes, there is a negative connotation with the ideal of imitation… but there is also a positive and even necessary imitation in our lives.
who has heard the saying, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
In fact, George Bernard Shaw said, “Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery - it's the sincerest form of learning.”
To learn something is a far greater task than just intellectually understanding, to learn something is to embody
Parenting is Imitation
Not only do parents figure out how to parent through imitation, but in large part parenting is to be imitated by your kids.
Children imitate their parents
Children learn to work by watch their parents
Construction during seminary
SLIDE***Picture of Owen and me going to work.
Children talk like like their parents
Children talk like like their parents
They walk like their parents
Children will learn to work by
They learn their sense of humor from their parents
They learn how to walk with God by their parents
They learn to mature by watching their parents
Maturation is imitation
We mature by aspiring to be like those further alone than us.
Discipleship is Imitation
Paul says in , “For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
Paul urges the corinthian Christians to imitate him, as he is their father in the faith.
The Big question is not whether or not you are an imitator, for we all are, the question is who are you imitating.
Look with me at
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
So Paul says “be imitators of God as beloved children”
What a wonderful statement.
We are not imitators of God as far off servants,
we are not imitators of God through obligation,
no we are imitators of God as beloved children.
We imitate God as a child imitates their father or mother
Van Til - “We are to think God’s thoughts after him”
We Imitate God as one who is loved by God
says, that God’s love has been poured into our hearts.
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
We then as children who have been filled with the love of God are to imitate this God who is love.
And how do we do that?
If you you need a change of thinking around your work
Try and discern what God thinks of work
If you have opinions around the role of church in your life
try and conform you opinions to God’s opinions
For God has thoughts about everything, therefore we should think God’s thoughts after him.
“be holy for I am holy”
God poured out his love into our hearts, we then pour out the love of God into the world.
Our imitations of God are lacking,
We imitate God because:
2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
we are made in his image
We are beloved children
beloved children act differently than unloved children.
What does it look like to imitate God?
2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Walk in love
We no longer walk the way the gentiles walk, as we saw in Chapter 4 - the gentiles walk:
Futility of their minds
darkened in their understanding
Alienated from the life of God
Ignorant
hard hearted
Callus
No, we walk in love
We live our lives imitating God, who is love.
2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
We then as children who have been filled with the love of God are to imitate this God who is love.
And God is not
But it its not enough for Paul just to say walk in love
But it its not enough for Paul just to say walk in love
Paul does not leave love in the abstract, but instead he gives us the example of God himself in the flesh, who we are to imitate.
walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us,
“walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us”
but rather we
To imitate God, to walk in love is to follow the example of Christ.
To imitate God, to walk in love is to follow the example of Christ.
The love Christ had for us was a love with teeth, a love we experience.
The love of Christ rebukes us in our sin
The love of Christ delights with us in our joy
The love of Christ is patience with us in our weakness -
The love of Christ comforts us in our fear - when the worries of this world overwhelm us.
The love of Christ is faithful toward us even when we are cowards
The love of Christ dies for us, even when we deserve to die.
You see, the love with which Christ loved us is so powerful, so magnificent, so astounding, that its strength was demonstrated most clearly when Jesus hung upon that cross for you and for me.
This is the love we are to have for one another,
If we love one another as Christ loved us we will...
rebuke one another for sin
rebuke
delight with one another in joy
be patient with one another in weakness
comfort one another in our fear
be faithful to one another
Even love one another enough to die for each other.
God has poured his love into our hearts, now we pour that love out upon one another.
And when we live as beloved children of God, loving one another as christ has loved us, our lives will be a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Within the levitical system you had sacrifices and offerings that were burnt up and as the smoke ascends it was described as a fragrant aroma that pleased God.
Paul talks about himself being poured out like a drink offering, which was likewise a pleasing aroma to the Lord
he enjoyed the sacrfices and offerings, they were pleasing to him, and now our lives, like Christs are to be poured out like a drink offering
And of course the sacrifice and offering of Christ upon the cross was a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
And likewise, we should be living sacrifices for this is pleasing and glorifying to God.
To walk in love is to imitate God, it is to love one another and it is to bring glory to God.
However, our hearts are prone to wander from such a life.
We may desire to walk in love, but we often walk in anger and bitterness
We may desire to speak with love, but our words are seasoned with filthiness and foolishness
So Paul warns us in the next four verses of what NOT to do as a beloved Child of God
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.
If you are to imitate God, walk as a child of God than sexual immorality, impurity (moral impurity), covetousness must not even be named among you
You cannot imitate God while living in sexual immorality.
For they are opposed to one another
4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no 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.
Sin in our lives corrodes and destroys our ability to walk in love
To walk in love is to
when sin is allowed to flourish in our lives, we become like those without God, easily deceived.
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.
4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no 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.
When our hearts do not long for the things of God’s heart, we do walk in love
This is what sin does, it seeks to convince us and entice us into living according to its demands.
When sin is left unattended, it affects our ability to discern the good, the true, and the beautiful - and we become easily deceived.
yet, when our hearts and minds pursue that which is outside of Christ, we become weak and easily deceived.
When we take God’s good gifts such as sexuality and abuse it in immoral and impure ways, we are not walking in love.
We become deceived into thinking the way the world thinks, living the way the world lives, valuing what the world values.
We so quickly can
When we don’t walk in the light we end up living in the darkness
So what are we to do? Pauls says in verse 7
7 Therefore do not become partners with them;
Do not become partners with them
This is the idea of joining with those who seek to deceive you.
the thinking of the world
If they are driving a car, you don’t get into the car and join them in their travels if they are going someplace you are not wanting to go.
the values of the world
For their destination is not toward the light of the gospel, but rather their destination is in the darkness of sin.
the telos of the world.
8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
why?
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.
Eph 5.8-10
We were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
I love this verse, it doesn’t say you once walked in darkness, but that you were darkness
It doesn’t say you now walk in the light, but that you are light.
What God has done in Christ is to take what was once dark and make it light.
Like in Creation, when darkness was over the face of the deep, and God spoke and said let their be light what happened?
For when the light comes what happens to the darkness?
The light pushed out the darkness
when you turn a light on in a dark room, what was once dark is now light.
This is the transformation that has taken place in Christ!
is there a battle? is their a struggle? you don’t see light and darkness battle it out in the room.
Christ has fundamentally changed his people from darkness to light.
When the light come darkness is gone.
He has saved us from the darkness of slavery to sin, and has brought us into the light of freedom in Christ.
This is not a change of arena, as if we once lived in darkness now we live in light.
Paul is saying that this transformation is at the core of who we are in Christ, we were once darkness and now in Christ we are light.
Or as Paul say in 2 Cor, we a new creations in Christ.
And as light, as children of the light, as new creations in Christ we are to live differently.
To live differently is the result not the cause of our change from darkness to light
And the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.
Now, in the Lord, we are light. so why live as if we are darkness?
to live as light we live in diametrically opposed to the values of the darkness
We should live as children of light for we are beloved children of God.
Wherever we go we go as children of light, we go as light. And wherever the light goes darkness runs and hides.
So live 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.
As children of light we are to try and discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
in any situation as beloved children, as children of light, we are to try and discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
we naturally discern quickly what is pleasing for ourselves.
But we are not called to discern that, we are told to try discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
Relational conflict
What is pleasing to the Lord?
Opportunity for a job change
what is pleasing to the Lord/
How to spend money, how to spend time, how you speak, how you feel.
our feelings should be pleasing to the Lord.
And this process of discerning what is pleasing to God becomes clearer as we continue to imitate God, and walk in love.
Walk as Children of Light
Paul continues to develop this them of Light and Darkness in vv. 11-14
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.
11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,
14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,
14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
11
Preaching the Word: Ephesians—The Mystery of the Body of Christ Negative Instruction for the "Light" (vv. 11-14a)
NEGATIVE INSTRUCTION FOR THE “LIGHT” (vv. 11–14a)
NEGATIVE INSTRUCTION FOR THE “LIGHT” (vv. 11–14a)
NEGATIVE INSTRUCTION FOR THE “LIGHT” (vv. 11–14a)
11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
As light, we are to live in lives in such a way that stands in contrast, and thus exposes the lies of the darkness.
Application
Tell the truth
We expose darkness by being light - living a virtuous life testifies against
Live in the light of Christ, and live in the truth.
We all experience the game of lies which often plague our social circles.
People gossip, slander, “pray for”, and discuss people in a way that is dishonest - This creates a web of lies that will end up destroying relationships.
Mark Twain once said, “If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything”
Truth sets us free from the darkness
If you tell the truth and live in the truth you will not be in danger of being deceived.
However, the truth can make you very unpopular, it can lead to great loss and even death - ask Jesus.
Yet, we are called to walk in the truth so that we will not be sucked into the darkness but rather we will expose the darkness of sin with the light of the truth.
Paul finishes this section with a call to walk in wisdom. And in keeping with wisdom he writes in a proverbial tone
Walk In The Spirit
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
look carefully (accurately, exactly, precisely) how you walk
Be intentional with you life, take hold of every moment, try and discern what is pleasing to God, and move forward in truth and wisdom.
This is what it looks like to make the best use of the time.
This is what it looks like to not be foolish.
Paul goes on…
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
18
Don’t get drunk, for that is debauchery (a-soteia)
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,
20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
v.20 giving thanks always and for everything
To walk in the light, is to recognize that everything we have is a gift of God. And we should people of gratitude.
Gratitude should mark every follower of Christ, in all situations.
For Jesus Christ has given us what we don’t deserve and he has taken upon himself what we do deserve. therefore in all things we should give thanks to God the Father.
Church, as you go this week
be Imitators of God, and know you are beloved children
Walk in wisdom, walk in truth, walk in the light.
Be militant in your thinking, do not let anyone deceive you and lead you into the shadows of darkness.
Truly seek to discern what is pleasing to the Lord, and see to understand the will of the Lord.
Lets pray