Ephesians - Lesson 5A

• For unbelievers, the beliefs and practices of Christianity can appear to be a contradiction

  • On the one hand, they’ll hear how we believe we’re assured Heaven solely because of our trust in Jesus Christ

    • We reject any theology that doing good deeds is a means of salvation or that it even contributes to our salvation

    • Of course this confuses a world that assumes good things come to those who help themselves

    • As I’ve heard more than one unbeliever say having heard of salvation by grace through faith…”it can’t be that easy”

  • But then having been saved, Christians maintain that doing good deeds should be the mark of a changed life

    • Jesus calls His followers to pursue doing good so that we may glorify our Father in Heaven

    • We put away sin and we seek to serve others as a loving response to our salvation, not a means of salvation

  • For believers taught by the Spirit of God, these concepts make perfect sense, but to the unbelieving world they can appear to be a contradiction

    • They see no sense in claiming a salvation that comes without regard to our personal merit or effort

    • Yet at the same time, teaching that the Lord demands good works from those He has saved

  • This theology is a stumbling block to other religious system because every false, manmade religious system assumes God thinks like we do

    • That He follows a cause-and-effect reward system

    • Those who do good, receive good; while those who do bad, receive judgment

    • That’s how we operate

  • So unmerited favor seems too easy to an unbeliever, and doing works after receiving salvation seems pointless

    • It’s like studying after the test is over

    • And yet this is exactly the way the Lord has constructed salvation

    • Because it brings Him all the glory and leaves us with none

    • He saved us without any of us lifting even a finger, so He alone deserves the glory

• Then secondly, when a believer lives an obedient life of good works, he or she continues to give God glory

  • Since we don’t claim our good works as a means of earning salvation, then our good deeds can only be understood as an act of love for God

    • Consider the example of a young boy who decides to wash his father’s car one Saturday morning

    • Perhaps a neighbor witnesses the boy’s good deed, and he assumes the boy’s father must be paying the son to do this chore

    • In which case, he simply concludes the boy is working to earn a wage

  • But what would the neighbor think if he discovered that the boy wasn’t being paid at all?

    • Instead, the young man simply decided to wash Dad’s car out of love and respect for his father

    • Knowing this, the neighbor would naturally wonder what kind of father inspires such selfless love in his children

    • In that sense, the boy’s good deed brought glory upon his father

    • And in the same way, we are called to glorify our Father in Heaven through good deeds done out of a heart thankful for our salvation

  • We know by faith alone we have been adopted into the family of God, made sons and daughters of God Most High by His grace

    • So now that we are in the family, we are called to glorify the Father 

    • First, by putting away sin, putting on the new self

    • And secondly, by living out our faith through good works

    • These things will lead the world to ask the question, “What kind of Father inspires His children to live this way?”

• This is where we find Paul at the end of Chapter 4 and moving into Chapter 5

  • He was exhorting the church to put on the new self, to let our Christ-like nature we received by our faith shine through

    • And to disassemble our corrupt, sinful outer man one thread at a time

    • This is the call of sanctification

    • It’s a decision to take up an inward battle, to fight against ourselves for the glory of God

  • Paul’s call to obedience in the faith runs three chapters, and when we last studied together, we reached the end of the first of those chapters

    • Paul was giving a series of five exhortations to adopt a different approach to life consistent with our new nature

    • If you remember, each of these exhortations had three parts:

    • A negative command to stop something, a positive command to begin something new in its place

    • And a justification or reason for why this change was beneficial or necessary

  • While we read through all five exhortations in vs.25-32, we only discussed four of the exhortations

    • The first was to stop speaking falsehoods

    • The second was to cease sinning in anger

    • The third was to stop stealing

    • The fourth was to put an end to unwholesome speech

  • Each of these is self-evidently a good thing

    • Just ask yourself how you feel when someone lies to you or comes against you in anger or steals from you or gossips about you 

    • Clearly, these things are unloving and unholy and should not define the life of a follower of the Lord

  • Yet as we said last time, they certainly define the world around us

    • In fact, these things are so common, they are expected and even tolerated

    • We celebrate someone who steals and gets away with it 

    • We cheer those who say unwholesome things in a comedy routine or in a movie

  • Therefore, it’s all the more impactful when a Christian acts differently for the glory of God

    • We stand apart in a healthy way

    • And the Lord may use that to draw others to Himself, which is our mission while we await our resurrection

• That brings us to the final example at the end of Chapter 4, which is a list of several related behaviors

Eph. 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Eph. 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

• Paul commands that we put away or set aside six vices that work together in a particular way

  • Let’s look at each vice for a second and see how they conspire to create a single problem in the body of Christ

  • First, Paul says put aside bitterness

• Bitterness is the Bible’s term for a festering hurt or resentment against another

  • Bitterness is the opposite of grace and forgiveness

  • A bitter person keeps track of the wrongs done to him or her by another rather than letting them go

  • As Barclay once remarked, every Christian should pray that the Lord might teach us how to forget

• Next, Paul says put away wrath and anger

  • Wrath is a passionate response born out of forethought

  • It can come across as anger, but it’s fundamentally not anger

  • It’s aggression or abuse focused against someone or something

• Anger is listed separately, because it’s a different emotion

  • While wrath is a planned act of aggression, anger is an unthinking, emotional response to something

  • Remember, Paul said righteous anger is appropriate, since it is a Spirit-triggered emotion intended to stir us to a righteous response 

  • But unrighteous anger manifested by the flesh is an impulsive act demonstrating a lack of self-control 

• The next two, clamor and and slander, are also related

  • Clamor is a vocal outcry or outburst intended to create a disruption

    • Like shouting over someone else in an argument so as to silence them

    • Or being boisterous as a prideful display of power, like the way a man boasts loudly in a crowded bar hoping to intimidate an adversary

  • Similarly, slander is speaking words to hurt another, but the effect is very different

    • If clamor is a verbal frontal assault, slander is the rhetorical equivalent of a knife in the back

    • Slander is whispering false accusations about someone to anyone who will listen and hopefully repeat it

  • Lastly, Paul says put aside malice, which is focused hatred for another person manifested in a variety of ways

    • Having malice for another means being absorbed by thoughts of hurting them or seeing them come to harm

    • It’s a preoccupation with another’s downfall

• Paul asks us to put away these six vices, because together they work against healing and forgiveness in the body of Christ

  • There is no doubt that we will injure one another from time to time

    • You can’t expect a group of very different people to come together into a single body and not expect some friction

    • That friction is a product of sin…of selfishness, pride, arrogance, thoughtlessness

    • While we understand that relationship problems will arise, we don’t accept them nor ignore them

  • We came together to help each other put away our sin nature, so as our flaws come to light, we will call them out gently while encouraging better things

    • But that process will be blocked before it even starts if we harbor bitter, angry, unforgiving hearts

    • If someone does us wrong and we respond with wrath or slander rather than forgiveness, we will cement that person as our enemy

    • We can’t shout them down or harbor hatred for them in our hearts, for that just exposes us as the evil one

  • Which is why Paul issues the positive command to be kind to one another

    • Paul isn’t merely saying “be nice” to everyone

    • He’s speaking the context of being wronged

    • Be kind to those who wrong you, who hurt you or are thoughtless to you

• Don’t just refrain from a negative response…go out of your way to provide a positive response

  • The opposite of retribution isn’t merely silence…it’s showing kindness  

    • Paul says be tender-hearted, which means literally have a good heart

    • So that you might truly forgive one another

  • And of course our model is found in the way the Father forgave us in Christ

    • While we were His enemies, despising Him and offending Him in everything we did or said

    • He moved first to show us kindness, forgiving us and granting us mercy before we even knew we needed it

    • The kindness of God brought us to repentance

  • Here’s one of the oxymoronic Christian moments for unbelievers

    • We show forgiveness to others because we have been forgiven

    • We show kindness to others who don’t deserve it because the Father showed undeserving people like you and me His kindness

  • But it makes perfect sense to those of us who know the grace of God

    • We understand how love wins over the hard heart

    • So when we put away malice, anger and wrath, we surprise people who were bracing for a different response

    • When we refrain from clamoring to respond softly and kindly to a member of the body of Christ, we let kindness accomplish a work in their heart

• So as we end Chapter 4 and move into Chapter 5, we look back on Paul’s command to live as one body putting on the new self

  • We live and work together in this world as one body with one Spirit through one faith

    • Yet we’re gifted in a variety of ways by that same Spirit

    • Those different gifts work together to make us spiritually stronger together than we can be alone

    • We serve in our gifts, growing together in the likeness of Christ, acting as His body before the world

  • And if we’re to fulfill that mission, we cannot look like the world

    • We must not follow in the same path of sin that defines their lives

    • To do so is to be unlike Christ and therefore to be unlike His body

    • And if we’re not prepared to look like Christ, then how successful can we be in representing Him to the world?

  • Like my example of the young boy who washes his father’s car, what if that young boy was cussing as he did the job?

    • Or what if he used the neighbor’s hose to wash the car, stealing the neighbor’s water?

    • Or what if he threw his used rags on the neighbor’s lawn?

    • Any message concerning the boy’s love for his father was lost on the neighbor who saw just another unruly, thoughtless hooligan

• Which leads us into Chapter 5, with Paul moving away from discussions of behavior within the body to personal behaviors that mark our character

Eph. 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
Eph. 5:2 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.
Eph. 5:3 But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;
Eph. 5:4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
 

• Therefore, Paul says, let’s imitate God as His children

  • The word “therefore" comes in reference to our mission as Christ’s body

    • Paul could have said “So that we may accomplish our mission, be imitators…”

    • This is a call to missional living for the sake of the Gospel

    • This is not about earning or preserving your salvation 

    • This is about being effective in the role Christ assigned to His body

    • There is simply no other way

  • And it begins with walking in love

    • The phrase is certainly common, and everyone agrees with the concept

    • But when you see Paul’s definition of what it means to walk in love, it gets harder

  • Paul defines walking in love as walking in Christ’s footsteps

    • Specifically, Christ willingly lay down His life for those who were spitting on Him and whipping Him

    • He took insults and fists and returned them with sacrificial forgiveness

    • This is the biblical meaning of  “walking in love” which is showing everyone self-sacrificial, agape love 

  • This is walking in love, but it’s hardly what the world means when it talks of love

    • But it is the love God expects, and it’s a pleasing thing to our Father when we do it

    • If you and I are going to show that kind of love to others, then we must eliminate the behaviors that are contrary to that kind of love

    • And so what follows are an examination of the many ways we fail to walk in love

• Beginning with our personal purity

  • In v.3 Paul says if we want to walk in love as Christ walked, we can have no immorality, no impurity and no greed among the saints

    • These things can’t even be named among us, Paul says

    • Which is to say that even the suggestion that such things are part of the body of Christ is harmful to our mission

  • If we thought Paul was going to go easy on us, it’s clear Paul has no intention of skirting the tough issues  

    • Immorality is a Greek word that always describes any conduct that defiles the marriage bed like fornication or adultery

    • While impurity refers to any form of unholy living like using pornography or illegal drug use

    • Finally greed seems to be connected to the earlier two thoughts, which means any uncontrolled appetite for evil things

  • Paul begins with these things because they are exactly the opposite of walking in love

    • Walking in love means sacrificing the desires of self for the betterment of others

    • But these actions are all about serving self at the expense of others

  • Fornication is having sex with someone without marrying them first

    • It’s the most selfish form of love

    • It’s stealing something precious from someone’s future wife or husband 

    • It’s about serving our own greedy desires rather than sacrificing self for the sake of the other person and their future spouse

  • Obviously, we can say the same things about an adulterous or homosexual relationship

    • They are illegitimate relationships born out of selfishness and greed

    • They don’t love another person because they aren’t for the betterment of the other person

    • They are merely ways we love ourselves

• In fact, every immorality (drug abuse, pornography, etc.) is a selfish act that hurts others, whether directly or indirectly

  • And therefore, we cannot allow such things to gain a perch inside the body of Christ

    • We cannot have even the suggestion that such things are compatible with a walk with Christ

    • Because their very existence in the body of Christ argues against the truth of our message

    • We say we want to show Christ’s love to the world but then we act in ways that are the opposite to the way Christ loved

  • In Paul’s day in Greek cities like Ephesus, these behaviors were commonplace and so he’s concerned about these things making their way into the church

    • But don’t think we’re far removed from these concerns

    • Many Christians today struggle with various forms of immorality

    • But it’s even more troubling to know that many Christians aren’t even struggling anymore

    • They have conceded to the existence of these things in their lives without even putting up a fight, as if it’s the new normal

  • Many churches have come to accept these things as normal in our culture

    • Like young Christian couples living together before marriage

    • Or Christians talking openly about enjoying watching near-pornographic television shows and movies

    • Or kids in Christian families using illegal drugs or alcohol, caught in “sexting” scandals at school, etc.  

  • If we think this is the new normal in the Church, then we’ve lost the message of love Christ left for us to share with the world

    • Our message has merely become the world’s message 

    • Which is love yourself at all costs

    • And that message brings no one closer to God

• Finally, Paul moves from immoral behaviors to immoral speech in v.4

  • Like Jesus said:

Matt. 15:18 “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.
Matt. 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.

• What lies in our hearts will find its way out of our mouths soon enough

  • And just as immoral and impure acts are contrary to love, so is vulgarity

• Let’s look at each of Paul’s concerns

  • Paul starts with filthy speech

  • Filthiness is obscene conversation

    • Like two men discussing a woman’s body in lurid terms

    • Or using profanity

  • Speaking in these ways is the opposite of love

    • It’s abusive to others

    • And it’s insensitive to those who will be justifiably offended by such things

    • In fact, there is probably no faster way to undermine your Christian witness than to engage in profane or obscene speech

    • And by the same token, there is no more obvious and powerful way to stand apart from the world than to refrain from such language

• Next, Paul tells the church to cease silly talk, which could be translated foolish talk

  • This is a broad category of speech, but think of it as any talk that is beneath us

    • And in particular, any conversation that diminishes us in the eyes of those we’re trying to influence for Christ

    • For example, repeating silly phrases like a child might or speaking in a silly voice

    • Or talking seriously about meaningless things as if they were worthy of mature conversation

  • I think much of what passes for entertainment on the internet (e.g., internet memes, for example) might fall into this category

    • We all enjoy the occasional cat video

    • But it’s easy to get carried away with that sort of stuff to the point of acting juvenile 

    • I think this category of speech is especially challenging for teenagers

    • It’s a time in life when we’re supposed to move beyond the silly and frivolous to serious concerns of life

    • Let’s encourage our Christian teens to mirror their adult aspirations with adult speech patterns

  • Obviously, there can be moments in life when talking in silly ways is perfectly acceptable

    • Like when entertaining a baby or during private moments with your spouse 

    • But when we carry these kinds of behaviors into a public setting, we encourage others to take us less seriously

    • And if that’s who we become in front of our friends or acquaintances, then we’ll find it difficult transitioning to serious discussions of eternal life

  • And it’s in that sense that we are unloving when we talk in this way

    • If we truly have love for the lost, then we will guard ourselves against looking frivolous or silly before them

    • We want to make sure they see us as serious, thoughtful people who can be trusted to offer meaning counsel on weighty matters

    • People don’t seek eternal advice from people who can’t act like an adult

• Finally, Paul asks us to put aside coarse jesting

  • He’s talking about dirty jokes, and we all know one when we hear it

    • Keep in mind that this category also includes subtle dirty humor

    • Like double entendres that imply something profane

    • Once again, we know when we hear it

  • And term coarse jesting also includes crude remarks of any kind

    • For example, making off-handed remarks about someone’s spouse

    • Thomas Constable tells a story of a time he attended a wedding where a guest proudly declared that she was the first person to get the groom drunk

    • That was coarse jesting too

  • Coarse talk of this sort isn’t consistent with walking in love because it imposes on others

    • Either it offends

    • Or it incites lust

    • Or it celebrates depravity and sin in others

    • In all cases, it is contrary to love and detracts from our ability to represent Christ

• Instead of these speech patterns, use your tongue to give thanks, Paul says

  • First to the Lord Himself and then to others

    • Be someone who is a blessing with your mouth

    • Because in that way you will certainly stand apart from the world

    • Which can only serve to help you reach them for Christ

  • We’ve just begun the chapter and there is a lot more waiting for us here

    • Paul will move from individual purity to marriage and then family and to those in authority

    • We’ll have plenty more to consider as we go

    • But before we look past today, give some sober thought to how you carry yourself in the things Paul mentioned

    • Remember, your job is to glorify the Father from a thankful, holy heart