Series: Ephesians, One in Christ 9 Text: Eph. 5:1-21 Valley Community Baptist Church June 3/4, 2017 Avon/Bristol, CT Pastor Jay Abramson Be Imitators of God When we moved here from Minnesota, the Twins had just won the World Series a couple of years before. It was summer, so the three boys and I would play games in the backyard almost every night. One night we were playing homerun derby. I was pitching and Jesse, our middle son, stepped into the batter s box and did this [crossed himself]. I said, Wait, wait. What was that? He said, What? I said, You did this, [cross myself]. He said, So??? I said, Well, what does that mean? He said, I don t know. I said, Well, why did you do it? He said, Because that s what Kirby Puckett does. [All-star outfielder for the Twins] I said, Oh, okay. Well, you keep doing whatever Kirby does. The last verse of Eph. 4 says this: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph. 4:32) The very next verse, Eph. 5:1, begins by saying, Therefore. The therefore is a grammatical bridge from Eph. 4:32 to his next thought. In other words, BECAUSE God in Christ forgave you (Eph. 5:1) Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. Just as our kids imitate star athletes or heroes or even us as their parents, we as adults are pretty good imitators too, aren t we? It seems to me that everybody s imitating somebody. If that s not true, then why are we all dressed so much alike? Why isn t anyone here wearing a toga or a kilt? And we don t just imitate fashion, we imitate words and actions. So, the apostle Paul poses this question to us all Whom are you imitating with your life? First, he encourages us to I. Imitate the Aroma of Christ In verse 2, he says: And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Eph. 5:2) The reference here to an offering and sacrifice to God is to the Jewish practice of offering animal and grain sacrifices to Jehovah in the Temple in Jerusalem. But the Gentile Ephesians had a practice of offering sacrifices to the Roman goddess, Diana, whose temple was in their city and was so magnificent that it was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Why did the Jews offer sacrifices to God? What were they trying to accomplish? Well, their purpose wasn t all that different from what the Ephesians were trying to accomplish by worshipping Diana. They wanted to please their God and be blessed. Jehovah promised to bless, protect, and establish the Jews in their land, all in response to honest and holy obedience to His commands, which included sacred offerings. (Deut. 28:1-14) 1
Then in the New Testament, when Jesus came, He called Himself, the Lamb of God, meaning the sacrifice of God. The Greek phrase translated a fragrant offering literally means a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God. Its sweetness was because of His complete obedience to His Father s will. And what, then, is Paul saying to these Ephesian Christians? He s saying, Since becoming followers of Jesus, you know that Diana is a false goddess. Worshipping her by offering sacrifices to her is not only worthless, but an offensive stench to the One True God. But the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross: THAT was a sacrifice that accomplished real forgiveness for us in the real world. It pleases God and honors the life actions of Jesus. And Paul is stating further that, when we join Jesus by living in obedience to His commands, our lives will also give off this sweet aroma of sacrifice, pleasing to the Father. Imitation of Jesus releases blessings for you from God. Secondly, Paul says, we should II. Imitate the Purity of Christ. In verses 3 through 7, Paul brings up the topics of sexual immorality and greed. This is because these two forms of sin were so prevalent in the Roman world. But listen to William Barclay s historical description of the Roman attitude toward these behaviors: It was certainly true that the ancient world regarded sexual immorality so lightly that [to them] it was no sin at all. It was the expected thing that a man should have a mistress. In places like Corinth the great temples were staffed by hundreds of priestesses who were sacred prostitutes and whose earnings went to the upkeep of the temple This is why he pleads with [the Ephesians] so earnestly and lays down his laws of purity with such stringency There is nothing in all history like the moral miracle which Christianity wrought. 1 So, as Christians today, we must not pity ourselves, thinking that sexual temptation or temptations regarding money or any other form of greed are so much greater today than in years past. Nor should we be fooled by those today who claim that the Greek words here do not mean what they appear to mean. Verses 3 states: But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. (Eph. 5:3) This means that any form of sex outside of marriage and not between a man and a woman is sin. The Romans practiced every conceivable form of sex and that is what Paul is warning the Christians about. And he doesn t mince words with his warning. He says: 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. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them. (Eph. 5:5-7) Now, Paul is singling out sexual immorality and greed, but his warning also covers other sinful habits. That s why he mentions other habitual sins in verse 4 that have to do with our speech; filthiness foolish talk crude joking. Paul is building an argument here that is going to find its culmination in the second half of this chapter, which we won t get to until next week. But that argument is that, when you became a Christian, it is exactly like when you get engaged. Next week we ll hear Paul refer to our relationship with Jesus as, This mystery, which he says is profound, and it refers to Christ and the church. (Eph. 5:32) So, when you got engaged, did you think it was appropriate to date old boyfriends or girlfriends? If an old boyfriend bought you a diamond bracelet, would you keep it? That s just 2
pure greed! No, if you were truly committed to the one to whom you were engaged, you would reject personal gifts. If they called and invited you out for coffee, you d say, I won t go out alone with you. I ll go out with you, but not me alone. Being engaged means that you are off the market. So, when we habitually sin (I m not talking about an isolated mess-up. I m talking about an on-going habit of choosing against a command of Jesus), when we do that, we re demonstrating a total lack of commitment, and Jesus says, Do you know what that means? That means we re not engaged! Your future won t include a wedding reception! It includes nothing but judgment. And you say, Wait a minute! Where are the grace and mercy you keep talking about, Pastor? I m human, I m a sinner. I m gonna make mistakes. Where s the forgiveness? If your fiancée caught you on a date with another woman for the third time, should you be expecting forgiveness or wrath? Here s another way to look at this: Jesus is engaged to you. You aren t married yet. The marriage supper of the Lamb doesn t take place until the end of the book of The Revelation. So, you re engaged to Jesus, but Jesus is also engaged to you. How faithful is He being to you? You say, Well, he s not tempted like I am. Oh, really? That s not true. Heb. 4:15: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. In Dietrich Bonhoeffer s book, Temptation, he spells out just how powerfully Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. He was not only tempted to be unfaithful to you, his brideto-be, but He was even tempted to be unfaithful to His Father. On top of all that, He already knew that you had cheated on Him! Satan tempted Him physically, You re hungry Jesus. What can it hurt to have just one bite of bread? Satan tempted Him spiritually, Hey Jesus, let s just verify who really loves you, because these people who say they love you, well, you and I both know how shallow their love is. I think you could use some loving right now. So, let s do this: jump off this ledge and let your Father prove how much He loves you. He ll catch you won t He? Finally, having failed twice in getting Jesus to be unfaithful to you and to His Father, Satan unveils his final temptation. Bonhoeffer calls it the complete temptation. He writes: Satan comes differently the third time he comes now in his wholly unconcealed display of power as the prince of this world. Now Satan fights with his very own weapons. Satan s power matches itself directly against the power of God His gift [temptation to Jesus] is immeasurably big and beautiful and alluring [it s the entire world!]; and in return for this gift he claims worship. He demands open apostasy from God This temptation shows with great clarity and insight completely final denial of God and submission to Satan. It is the temptation to sin against the Holy Ghost. 2 And how did Jesus respond? Not like me. Not like you. We caved. For so much less, we caved! We rationalized our unfaithfulness! I m so, so hungry. What difference will it make if I take just one bite of this sin. Surely, Jesus will forgive me. How many times have you been unfaithful? I ve actually lost count. But Jesus remained faithful even when offered the whole world! Bonhoeffer continues: The temptation of Jesus is not that heroic struggle of man against wicked powers that we fondly and lightly suppose. In the temptation, Jesus is robbed of all his own strength, he is left alone by God and man, in anguish he must suffer Satan s robbery, he has fallen into the deepest darkness 3
This in the temptation of Jesus, there really remains nothing except God s Word and promise, no native strength and joy for the fight against wickedness, only God s strength and victory, which holds fast in the Word, and the Word robs Satan of his power. Only by God s Word is the temptation overcome. 3 If we are faithless, he remains faithful (2 Tim. 2:13) But how then, can we be more like Him, more faithful? Only if we III. Imitate the Light of Christ Imitating someone else can be exhausting if we try to do it ourselves. And it can be done. Hollywood actors do this all the time. For her role in Black Swan, Natalie Portman trained with New York City Ballet dancer Mary Helen Bowers for eight hours a day, six days a week, for twelve months before the filming started. For her role as Fantine in Les Mis, Ann Hathaway shaved her head, lost 25 pounds, and subsisted on a daily diet of two thin squares of dried oatmeal paste. For his role in Fury, Shia LeBeouf trained with the U.S. National Guard and was a chaplain s assistant in the 41 st Infantry. During the filming, he didn t bathe for four months. 4 But Jesus has a better idea. He doesn t ask us to imitate the Bataan Death March to prepare for life as His disciple. First of all, because He doesn t want us to be acting. He wants us to be living in truth. So, listen to his description of how we can move toward faithfulness. In verses 8 and 9 Paul says: (Eph. 5: 8, 9) for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true) He doesn t say, you were in darkness, he says you WERE darkness. And then he doesn t say we now are in the light; he says now we ARE light in the Lord. How does this work? He explains this in verses 13 and 14: But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light What s true about darkness? Total darkness makes everything invisible, doesn t it? Have you ever felt invisible? Other people can make you feel invisible, can t they? If we ignore someone, it s as if he were invisible. Anytime you ignore someone, anyone, you are spreading darkness, not the light of Christ. (I think that s at least one action step for me this week. How about you?) Now, verse 8 said that we were light, but what causes us to become light? Our own effort? Let s keep reading Therefore it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. (Eph. 5:14b) It literally says in the Greek, Sleeping one, rise! Dead one, stand up! And Christ will shine on you! There s the source of the Light! It s Jesus! When we come to Jesus, admit our unfaithfulness to Him, and ask for His forgiveness, He wakes us up, raises up some of us because we were as good as dead, shines His light on us, and we BECOME that light. We become it! How incredible is that? I was darkness I wasn t IN the darkness, I WAS the darkness, and now I m light. That s the only way we can be faithful, be imitators of God. So, what about you? What are you right now? The Holy Spirit has been speaking to you through this Word today, this powerful Word. There are only three options: 4
1. You re dead, spiritually dead. We all were dead once, but are you still spiritually dead? Jesus is calling your name right now and He s saying, Stand up! Not physically, but spiritually. Admit you re dead and you want to be alive. Ask Me to forgive you and I ll make you light right now. 2. You could be asleep. That means you re a Christian, but you re wandering around in the twilight, half seeing day and half seeing night. Jesus has something to say to you, too. He says, Wake up! Rise! Admit your sin and I ll remove you from darkness and make you light again! 3. Lastly, some of you were light when you came in and you re even brighter light now. The last three verses in today s Scripture are especially for you: Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Eph. 5:18-21) What a great passage of Scripture! There s something for every one of us. Let s thank Him for feeding us so well today. Let s pray 1 William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series, The letters to the Galatians and Ephesians (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 161, 162 2 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Temptation (London: SCM Press LTD, 1961), p. 19 3 Ibid., Temptation, p. 20, 21 4 Emily Zemler, 15 Actors Who Went to Seriously Extreme Measures for a Role, Feb. 5, 2016; www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a33861/extreme-role-prep/ 5