Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
My Understanding: Paul had just finished writing to the church in Ephesus concerning all the spiritual blessings they have in Christ Jesus – they were chosen, called, predestined to be holy and blameless in the sight of Christ Jesus, our Lord, redeemed (bought back for God - he paid the price) by the blood of Jesus Christ; they forgiven of all their sins, and they were given knowledge, wisdom and understanding concerning God’s will for their lives. As well, they were included in Christ when they believed, and they were marked in Christ with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance in Christ Jesus.
Paul then reminded them how they were once dead in their sins, in which they used to live, when they followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, Satan – the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. And, then he went on to describe the disobedient as those who make it a practice of gratifying their sinful nature and following its evil desires and thoughts. And, in so doing, they are objects of God’s wrath.
Yet, the good news is that, because of God’s great love and mercy, they were made alive in Christ Jesus, although they had been dead in their sins. By grace they were saved, through faith, and both the grace of God and the faith to believe were gifts from God and were not of themselves, lest they should have reason to boast. They were God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God had prepared in advance for them to do. And, all the spiritual blessings they had, we have, too, if we are in Christ Jesus.
Paul prayed for them to be strengthened in the faith and in the knowledge of all they had in Christ Jesus. And, then he urged them to live lives worthy of the calling they had received. He called for unity in the body of Christ via spiritual maturity and no longer being tossed by the wind and waves of various doctrines and teachings of men, and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, they were to grow up into Christ, who is the head of all things. “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
Put Off the Old; Put On the New
Then Paul insisted, in Christ, that they no longer live in the futility of the thinking they had when they were darkened in their understanding and were separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that was in them due to the hardening of their hearts. He told of how the disobedient had given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. And, then he reminded them that they had not come to know Christ that way. They were taught, with regard to their former way of life, to put off their old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of their minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
So, next Paul gave them a partial list of the types of attitudes and behaviors they were to put off and the kinds of actions and thoughts they were to put on in place of those discarded activities. And, that leads us into today’s passage in chapter five, which picks up this same topic of the kinds of things we are to put off and the kinds of things we are to put on in place of what we have gotten rid of. And, he begins this section of his letter by stating that we need to become imitators of God. Wow! That’s a tall order! And, yet, as believers in Jesus Christ, we are to become more and more like Christ each day. We are to forgive others and show mercy and kindness, and we are to love others in the same way God loves us and gave himself up for us. If our goal is to be imitators of God (Christ-like), then it should certainly make the task of the put offs and the put ons more palatable.
And, then Paul went beyond discussing outright choices of our will to sin against God, to include letting us know that there should not even be a hint of sexual immorality, impurity, or greed in our lives, because these behaviors are improper for God’s holy people. And, he takes it even a step further when he declares that those who live in continuous immoral and impure behavior, or those characterized by greed, will not inherit eternal life with God. A person who is characterized by greed and a continued life of immorality wants things more than he wants God. He puts his own desires in place of God’s desires for his life. He forgets about God. He persists in sexual immorality or greed, and God sees this person as an idolater who has turned from God and thus God excludes that person from the kingdom of God and of heaven. We should never take our salvation for granted!
Not only are we not to be idolaters, those given over to lust and sinful desires, but we should not be partners with those who do such things. In other words, we need to choose our companions and friends carefully so that we are not dragged down and taken captive to sin again due to the associations we make with those who are living such sinful lifestyles. This is also saying that we should not participate in the sinful life-styles of those who live like this. I believe there are many ways in which we can participate in sinful life-styles, and not just by actually committing the sins ourselves, but by giving approval to the sins either by our words and actions or by our silence. Also, when we allow ourselves to be entertained by sinful behaviors on TV, in movies, in music, games, etc., then we become participants.
So, instead of walking in darkness and giving way to our sinful desires, we are to walk in the light of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the truth of God’s word, and the teachings of Christ, and the witness of the Holy Spirit within us. We are to live in all goodness, which comes from God within us, in righteousness and in truth (no lie). We are to have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, and that includes being entertained by such deeds or in remaining silent when we should be exposing the deeds of darkness.
Wake Up!
And, then there is the call to wake up from our slumber and to rise from the dead. There are many ways in which we can be dead, and not just because we are outside of Christ. We who are in Christ Jesus can harden our hearts to the truths of God’s word within us and we can desensitize ourselves to the conviction of the Holy Spirit within us by continually allowing more and more ‘poop’ in our brownies. I know – been there, done that! We have ears to hear and eyes to see because God once filled us with his light, if we are truly in Christ, and yet, by giving way to sin and by quenching the Spirit of God within us we have deadened our hearing and our eyesight has become cloudy, and so we don’t see the truth even though it is staring us straight in the face.
Paul wrote all of this to warn those in Christ Jesus to not allow the deceitfulness of sin to creep back into their lives, and that is why he reminded them that they did not come to know Christ that way. Yet, many today are teaching salvation absent of true repentance and obedience to Christ Jesus, and they are teaching that God is pleased with us no matter what we do. We are not to listen to this deceitful and harmful teaching with preaches a false hope. This passage is clear on the fact that when we come to know Christ we are to forsake our former way of life, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, and we are to be transformed of the Holy Spirit of God in our minds, and we are to put on Christ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. This is what it means to believe in Jesus Christ, and this comes from the Spirit within us when we cooperate with God in his saving work of grace in our lives.
So, we must be careful how we live. We must make obedience to Jesus Christ and forsaking our sins our ultimate goal in life, and we must make a plan of action (strategy) for how we are going to follow Christ Jesus with our lives so that we do not go through life just existing and going nowhere. We need to make the most of every opportunity God gives us while we are still on the face of this earth to live for him, to obey him, and to be his servants and witnesses in telling others how they, too, can be set free from sin. And, we should not allow other people, things, attitudes, Satan, substances, abuses, sinful habits, etc. to control our lives like alcoholic drunkenness controls the life of the drunk. We should put off these deeds of darkness listed for us in these chapters in Ephesians and we should continually be being filled with the Holy Spirit of God in our lives to overflowing with his fruit and his love.
And, lastly, we should be encouraging one another to not sin and to live for the Lord Jesus. We can do this through writing, speaking, singing, teaching, sharing testimonies, etc. And, we should do this joyfully and with thankful hearts to God for all that he has done and continues to do for us on a daily basis. We can sound the trumpet call to “Wake up” to those who are asleep, or we can respond to the call ourselves, and we can choose today to turn from our sin and to follow Jesus Christ in complete surrender and obedience.
Muted Trumpet / An Original Work / October 14, 2011
Softly He speaks gently to us,
Giving us His messages, and
He waits patiently for us to
Respond to His words.
Will you listen to Him speaking?
Will you waken from your sleeping?
He is calling; hear Him whisper
His truth unto you.
Jesus speaks His words unto us,
So that He might live out through us,
Giving light to all who need Him,
So they can obey.
He gave His life to die for us,
So that from sin He would free us
To walk humbly in obedience
Unto Him each day.
Hear the trumpet clearly calling.
He died to keep us from falling.
Won’t you listen; heed His call to
Turn to Him today?
Hasten to Him calling to you.
Turn from sin and follow Jesus.
He loves you so much He gave you
Life eternally.
Song Lyrics @ Public Domain
Audio, song lyrics and sheet music at:
https://sites.google.com/site/psalmshymnssongs2/home/songs/muted-trumpet
Song on video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0iizyIw0KM
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