Ephesians, Chapter Five, Lesson Two THE SPIRIT FILLED LIFE - Part 2 Ephesians 5:7-14 STIMULATE ** When our study of Ephesians 5:1-6 came to an end last week, we asked ourselves two important questions. We need to review those questions and the answers that we came up with. 1) If are living "The Spirit Filled Life" under the control of the Holy Spirit, Who's characteristics will we be imitating? Those of our loving Heavenly Father - God Almighty. 2) What did you see in that passage that would give us a pattern to follow in our desire to be a child of God who imitates his or her spiritual parent? 1. We should "walk in love" (our motive). 2. We should give our self up for others. 3. We should make our life an offering to God. 4. We should replace sin with thanksgiving. Hopefully, you have seen some of those same characteristics in your own heart this past week as you live out "The Spirit Filled Life" by imitating God Himself! MOTIVATE ** There are many ways that we could say our Christian life is to be different from the world. When we look at our marriage, it too should be drastically different from the world's perspective. What expression could we use to illustrate the greatest possible degree of contrast? Our lives, our marriages, should be as different from the world as "night and day" or "light and darkness"! ** In our passage for today, the apostle is going to show us the importance of living in "all goodness and righteousness and truth". When we do that, we will develop a new driving force in our lives that will prove to be the ultimate source of blessing for our walk with the Lord and with our mate in marriage. Read passage (V.7-10) (V.11-14) Opening Prayer INVESTIGATE The Spirit Filled Life V. 7 ** Why does Paul give this command at this point in his letter to the Ephesians? He knows that we will imitate someone - and he has just encouraged us to be an imitator of God, "Therefore" we are not to be "partakers with them". ** How comprehensive is this command?
summetachos - lit. "a joint partaker", Paul has just listed in verses 3-5 the world's sinful pattern which is not "even to be named among" Christians. We must not become partners with them in living out that kind of life. ** With whom are we to be partakers? Other Believers in Christ - remember Ephesians 3:6 V. 8 ** In verse eight Paul uses two unusual expressions, one to describe our past and the other our present. What are they, and what about them is so unusual? 1) We were darkness (not in darkness) cf. Colossians 1:12-13 2) We are light (not in light) cf. Matthew 5:14-16 Paul is describing our very nature. What we were before we came to know Christ and what we have become by the grace of God. cf. 2Corinthians 5:17 Our lives ought to reflect who we are! ** What happens when you try to mix light and darkness together? One will flee from the other! ** According to verse 8, why would Paul warn us not to be partakers with world around us? We were "formerly" darkness, but now we are light! Since we have become new creatures in Christ, we must not act or think like our former life. When we are living "The Spirit Filled Life" we are different from the inside out. cf. 2Corinthians 6:14-16 ** Does that mean we have nothing to do with the unsaved world around us? No - in fact, we are to reach them for Christ! cf. 1Corinthians 5:9-13, Matthew 28:19-20 We simply do not partake in their lifestyle. ** Having identified us as "light", what is Paul's positive exhortation at the end of this verse? "Walk as children of light" - be who you are! ** Do you recall Paul using the metaphor of walking before? Yes, Ephesians 2:10, 4:1, Colossians 1:10, 2:6, 1Thessalonians 2:12 V. 9 ** What will be the fruit of our life if we will simply be who we were created to be? "the fruit of the light", what a blessing to those around us! From our spouse, to our brother or sister in Christ, to our lost neighbor, even to our enemy. ** What are the three manifestations of the fruit of the light which are listed for us here in this verse?
Goodness agathosune - moral excellence, willingly and sacrificially done for others. cf. 1Thessalonians 5:15 Righteousness dikaiosune - we know that we have gained the righteousness of Christ by grace through faith, but we are still commanded to live our life "in" righteousness. cf. Romans 6:12-13 Truth aletheia - this is dealing with the characteristics of honesty, reliability, trustworthiness and integrity, all of which support our efforts to be living "The Spirit Filled Life". V.10 ** What is the driving force in our lives? Why would we want to live in this way toward our spouse? We are "trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord". When we sacrifice for our husband or wife, brother or sister, friend or enemy, we are doing that for the glory of God and to be pleasing to Him. ** Let's look a little closer a the term Paul uses here. Is Paul talking about an educational process? Not really, dokimazo (translated here as trying to learn) carries the idea of proving or testing. As we learn to obey the Lord in our marriage and all other relationships as well, we will grow in our goodness, righteousness and truth - thus proving who we are in Christ. A claim to Christianity apart from observable obedience is a lie! cf. James 1:22, Luke 11:28 V.11 ** Paul has already instructed us to be different than the unsaved world around us by not "partaking with them" in their sinful view of life (V.7) - How does he now describe their daily conduct? Theirs is a life which produces only "unfruitful deeds of darkness". ** Volumes could be said about how the world wastes its time in unfruitful or counter productive words and actions. Could we as Christians fall into that same pattern? Absolutely we can - defending unimportant opinions, taking a stand on our pride, we can do great harm to the ones we love and become most unfruitful. ** What two things does Paul tells us to do regarding their "deeds of darkness"? 1) Do not participate! 2) Expose the error! We are to reach the sinner, while avoiding the sin. cf. Mark 6:14-18 ** In whom should we be most willing to expose error? Not our spouses! But, rather in our own hearts! cf. Psalm 139:23-24 ** How do we go about exposing sin in others, even with our spouses? Humbly, in a spirit of gentleness - Galatians 6:1 ** There is a wonderful phenomenon going on here, if we are "children of light" and sin is categorized as the "deeds of darkness", what will happen when it gets around us? It will be exposed by the "light" - even if it was in our own hearts! V.12 ** What apparent contradiction appears in verse twelve?
If it is "disgraceful" (obscene) even to speak of the things which they do, how can we expose them if we do not speak of them? Paul is linking the phrase "to speak of" back to his command for us to "not participate" - in other words, not only is it disgraceful to do the deeds of darkness, it is also disgraceful to just talk about doing it. It should not become any part of our conversation. Remember last week in verse four, "there must be no...coarse jesting". V.13 ** So how are sinful deeds exposed? By being exposed by the light! By being around our good, righteous and truthful behavior and the light of God's word - even in our hearts. cf. John 3:19-21, Romans 12:17-21, Psalm 119:105 and Hebrews 4:12-13 ** What does Paul mean by "everything that becomes visible is light"? The best Greek manuscripts place this phrase in verse 14 and it is better translated "for it is light that makes everything visible" (NIV). V.14 ** As we expose sin by our Godly lifestyle and the word of God, what is the reason - what are we to say to someone who responds? Wake Up! Arise from the dead! Place your faith in Christ and He will shine on you. ** What Old Testament prophet is Paul borrowing from here in his invitation to salvation? Isaiah 60:1-3 - describing Israel's coming glory in the millennial kingdom, Paul is here calling the sinner out of darkness into the glory of Christ. ** Even though he is primarily addressing those sinners who only produce "deeds of darkness" and exhorting them to "arise from the dead" - is there a principle here that can be applied to a Christian who has fallen into a sinful pattern or practice in their life? Yes - Wake up! cf. The "dead" church at Sardis in Revelation 3:1-6 EXTRICATE ** As we strive to live "The Spirit Filled Life" in our marriages and with others around us, what were some specific commands or examples given to us today that would better equip us for the task? 1. Do not be partakers with non-christians, in their sin. 2. Walk as children of light (be who we are). 3. Bear the fruit of the light (goodness, righteousness and truth). 4. "Prove" what is pleasing to the Lord. 5. Expose sin by our godly behavior and the Word. 6. Witness to the lost - wake up! DELINEATE ** How many of those six could be used by the Lord to strengthen our relationship with our spouse? All six! 1. When we do not partake in the sin of the world, we purify our marriage.
2. When we walk as children of the light, we remove the dark shadows of sin in our relationship. 3. When we bear the fruit of the light, we cause our love to grow in godly virtue. 4. When we prove what is pleasing to the Lord, He blesses our relationship. 5. When we humbly and gently expose sin, we cleanse our love for each other. 6. When we witness to the lost world, we join together as man and wife in the high calling of living for Christ. EVALUATE ** Which of these areas needs the most work? If we are serious about our relationship to the Lord and to each other, we need to make time for evaluation. ACTIVATE ** May I encourage you to sit down together this week and review how you are doing? Should the Lord lay one or more of these items on your hearts, be faithful to walk in obedience. Closing prayer