Flip the Switch – Eph. 5:3-20
Steve Simala Grant – Nov. 3/4, 2001
Intro:
(Sun)
Making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences. Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl. "Why," he exclaimed, "when I went a-courtin’ I never carried one of them things. I always went in the dark." "Yes," the hired man said wryly," and look what you got!"
(Sat)
catching kids creeping around in the dark during an all-nighter…
Overview:
Eph. 5:3-20 uses the metaphor of light and darkness to explain how we are to live as Christians. We can all relate to an experience of groping around in the dark, trying to get somewhere or accomplish something when we can’t see what’s around us. Paul uses this contrast to explain how we are to live – as children of light.
The passage continues the section that began way back in chapter 4:17. Paul has been telling us how to live as Christians, specifically mentioning areas of our lives that need to change in order for us to be more like Christ.
Our passage this morning jumps right in to this discussion, listing some areas of sin that we need to get rid of and then prescribing some alternatives. Since it is a long passage we won’t be able to look at it in detail, but we will try to hit the high spots.
READ
A. Commands (vss. 3-7):
One of the things I love about Paul’s writings is that they are often really direct – no mincing words, no back-peddling, no trying to couch it in non-offensive language – he just gets right to the heart of the matter. That is how verse 3 begins – just jumps right in and tells it like it is. There are three prohibitions: against sexual immorality, impurity, and greed. Verse 4 lists another three related to speech: no obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking. And intermingled among these prohibitions are a series of reasons why Christians should be different.
1. Sexual immorality and impurity
(Sun) It might be helpful as we look at these first two commands to remember that Ephesus, the city listed as the destination for the letter, was a hotbed of sexual immorality. It was home to the temple of Artemis, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Artemis was the goddess of, among other things, fertility – which led to a practice known as temple prostitution, where people engaged in sexual activity with temple prostitutes to “honor” the goddess. You can imagine what kind of atmosphere this created in the city with regard to sexual standards – a permissive atmosphere backed up by a “religious” philosophy.
I share that background because it reminds me a lot of our society. The goddess is not “Artemis,” it is “self-fulfillment.” But the result is the same – a cavalier attitude towards sexual matters and a complete lack of sexual purity. We end up living in a culture which celebrates and elevates personal sexual fulfillment to an ultimate level.
(Sat) This first command says “among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality.” Not even a hint. The standard is black and white – there is no gray area. This is about as blunt as it gets. Compare that standard to our society – where sexual immorality is glamorized and celebrated and even worshiped. The norm in our society is to be sexually active outside of marriage – to have numerous partners throughout our lives, to seek personal pleasure sexually at any cost. So people like me who have never been physically intimate with anyone except for my wife are freaks – wierdos – and much of our society would feel sorry for me for all that I have supposedly missed out on.
(both) What do I mean by sexual purity – what is the standard here? – to be quite blunt, it is any sexual activity outside of marriage – that is sinful and destructive. That includes premarital sex and extramarital sex. That includes sexual contact with anyone who is not your spouse, regardless of the level of intimacy created. It even includes spoken words without contact, as verse 4 makes clear. And when we take Jesus’ words into account from the sermon on the mount, Matt. 5:27-28 (read), we see the standard extended even further into our thought life. Lust is sin, it is impurity. It is destructive.
This is a big thing in our society because of the ease and availability of pornography on the internet. (Sat. “sleeping beauties” story; Sun gk. “porneia”). And this scares me especially for teens (Sat. story from my childhood re: availability). It is so easy to think that it is harmless, that it doesn’t hurt anyone. Yet if that were true, why are you so worried about someone catching you? And why do you feel so guilty afterwards? The truth is that pornography is incredibly destructive. It is sin against God, for one, as this passage makes clear. And it is harmful to you also – how?? Because it warps your sexual expectations, turns sex into something selfish rather than selfless, plants images in your mind that are difficult to get rid of and that plague you, and sends you down a self-destructive path. It is incredibly destructive to your ability to form healthy relationships with members of the opposite sex, especially marriage relationships. And all that is to say nothing about the objectification of women and the dehumanization and degregation that is part of the broader context of pornography. There is much more to say on this topic, but it is better said in a different context – so get some help in this area if this is a struggle for you. Know clearly that the Bible says sexual immorality is wrong, it is sin, it is destructive, and among us as Christians there “must not be even a hint” of it. Know too that simply being aware of the destructiveness is not enough – it takes submission and obedience to God and His power to break the hold. I can’t urge you strongly enough to deal with this issue in your life.
2. Greed
After talking about sexual purity, Paul names greed as the third thing in this list of commands. Seems like a strange mix, doesn’t it? Verse 5 makes the connection, as we’ll see in a moment.
(Sat) Me not being satisfied with what I have…
(Sun) I think we are a little like the ringtail monkey: it is one of the hardest animals to catch. For the Zulus of that continent, however, it’s simple. They’ve been catching this agile little animal with ease for years. The method the Zulus use is based on knowledge of the animal. Their trap is nothing more than a melon growing on a vine. The seeds of this melon are a favorite of the monkey. Knowing this, the Zulus simply cut a hole in the melon, just large enough for the monkey to insert his hand to reach the seeds inside. The monkey will stick his hand in, grab as many seeds as he can, then start to withdraw it. This he cannot do. His fist is now larger than the hole. The monkey will pull and tug, screech and fight the melon for hours. But he can’t get free of the trap unless he gives up the seeds, which he refuses to do. Meanwhile, the Zulus sneak up and nab him.
This is how greed catches us – we refuse to let go.
By putting this sin here Paul really reveals how we tend to filter various “sins” through our own cultural lens. As a church we probably wouldn’t tolerate a church member who was openly and consistently living in sexual immorality. But what about the person who is simply greedy? Who dedicates their life to pursuing more and more material things, to getting richer and richer, and who hoards this wealth and spends it only for their own pleasure? We tend not to see this in the same light, to see this as sin as Paul does, and to see it as incompatible with a Christian lifestyle. But Paul does, he includes this here among this list, and expects us to take the same hard look at ourselves regarding greed as other areas of sinfulness. Perhaps the question to ask here is what are the desires of our heart. If the things you desire are primarily material things – the fancy new car, the expensive house, the nicest clothes, you need to ask why you desire those things so much. Is it simple greed? Again I urge you to deal with this before God.
3. The reasons for the commands (vs. 5):
I mentioned that Paul makes the connection between sexual immorality, impurity, and greed in verse 5. Now, I’d love to just skip this verse and jump into the next section, but as uncomfortable as it may be we need to take seriously what it says.
Paul makes the link between the three sins in the middle of the verse – the NIV sets the phrase off with a couple of dashes. It says that such a man is an idolater. The connection is that these sins become the center of our lives rather than God. They become more important to us that God. We spend more time, more effort, more energy pursuing them then we do pursuing God. Really, we come to worship them rather than God.
The reason this works – the reason we get caught up in these sins – is because we are sub-consciously convinced that they will meet a genuine need we have as human beings. This is where the lie is. The need we have for happiness and satisfaction (even physically) is part of who we are – part of who God made us. I know that everything I’ve said so far about sexuality has been negative, because of the context – but that is not all there is to it at all – our sexuality is a gift from God to be enjoyed. All God is doing when he places restrictions around it is ensuring that we will get maximum enjoyment and minimal destruction out of it. The lie comes from society (and ultimately the pit of hell) that the good need we have should be filled instantaneously and spontaneously and without any restrictions and outside of any boundaries. It is the same with greed – we have a need to feel secure: the lie is that a really fat bank account will make us secure. But all the money in the world won’t cure a terminal illness or stop a fatal accident. Understand? The need is fine and human, the lie is that it will be met through the sin rather than through a relationship with God.
Our fulfillment and our security will only be found in Christ. That is the heart of the gospel, plain and simple. These (and other) sins do not meet the need we have, at most they scratch the surface and leave us bleeding rather than at peace. It is only in God that we become free to become completely whole, completely fulfilled, and completely secure.
The message of verse 5 is simple but harsh. If we are pursuing – and by that I mean living consistently and blindly and willfully – the type of life characterized by sexual immorality and impurity and greed, then we are not part of God’s kingdom. The verse is not a warning, it is simply a description. It does not say that if we slip up and mess up and sin that suddenly we are no longer saved, no longer one of God’s children, no longer entitled to our inheritance. The opposite is true – forgiveness is abundant and free to all God’s children seeking to live a holy life. Our inheritance is sealed by the Holy Spirit, and is guaranteed by Him. The simple message of verse 5 is that if we are willfully and continually living in sexual immorality and impurity and greed then we are simply demonstrating that we are not God’s children, regardless of what we may say.
This isn’t the most comfortable paragraph in Ephesians. And yet, as the next paragraph makes clear, the point of identifying and getting rid of all the areas of sin in our lives is so that we can live, as Jesus said, life “to the full.” It really is better God’s way – it is better in the light – it is better to live free of the guilt and bondage of these sins that destroy us and our relationships. That is why Paul lists these, and that is why I’ve spent the last 3 sermons calling us, myself included, to repentance and obedience.
B. Living in the light (vss. 8-14)
This next paragraph provides us with the primary motivation for living a holy life: it is who we are. Verse 8 reminds us that we were “darkness,” but now are “light.” So we should live like it. There is more in the paragraph than that, but that is the main point.
I keep finding Paul bringing us back to this point in Ephesians. Telling us who we are and then encouraging us to live accordingly. This is a powerful truth, one that we need to constantly be reminded of. Because of what God has done for us in forgiving us and adopting us into His family, we are different. We no longer need to eat out of the garbage cans, we have a place reserved at the table of God. We no longer need to stumble throught the darkness, God has made us light. We no longer need to live in slavery to sin, Christ has set us free.
I have photocopied a page from a man named Niel Anderson who has had a significant impact helping people realize who they are in Christ so that they can begin to live as children of light. It is entitled “Who I Am In Christ.” I want you to take that and put it somewhere that you can read it everyday. Look up the Scriptures. Read it out loud, so that you actually hear the words. That is one of the keys to living in the light – being convinced of our identity as God’s children.
And as harsh and blunt as the issues we have been looking at are, of lying and stealing and impure speech and sexual immorality and greed, we need to bring these things into the light so that we can be set free. So that we can live as children of light.
There is one final section to look at here, and then I’m going to once again call us to repentance and surrender. To allow the Holy Spirit to search us and purify us as we repent. It is God’s timing that it is a communion Sunday, as this gives us a perfect way to respond to God’s call to us to repent of our sins and to obey Him fully.
C. Be careful how you live (vss. 15-20)
This last paragraph lists a few more commands and suggests alternatives, all under the heading of “be careful how you live.” Paul calls us first to live wisely, and to make the most of every opportunity. To not waste time or squander opportunities to live as children of light in a dark world. This is an especially timely message inour world right now, where the darkness of hate is so obvious and where the need for the light that comes from the love of Christ so desparately obvious.
Paul then commands us to not be foolish, and to not get drunk. The alternative to getting drunk is to “be filled with the Spirit”. I want to point out that the reference here is to continual filling, not to a one-time spiritual high. Paul is urging us to be continually filled with God.
Verse 19 is interesting – it first commands us to sing to one another and then secondly to God. This underscores the communal nature of worship – that as we gather and worship and praise it is an act of encouragement to one another as well as being directed towards God. I saw this best illustrated recently by a member of our congregation visiting Allan Vail in his nursing home and singing to him, embodying this verse and ministering to Allan through that.
The final verse brings the whole section which focusses on holiness and obedience to a close: (read vs. 20). This really brings the passage into perspective – that living obediently will result in thanksgiving. The focus remains on God, on all that He is and has done for us. The perspective is Christ-centered, reminding us to continually live in obedience to God and being thankful for all that He does for us.
D. The challenge:
The obvious response to this section of Ephesians is a call to examine ourselves under the light of the Holy Spirit, asking Him to shine light – to flip the switch on the dark closets or attics or basements of our souls – and to reveal the areas of sin in us so that we can be free of them and live as God desires. So that we can live as children of light in a very dark world.
The call to repentance comes alongside a call to obedience – we repent of the sins of the past and at the same time commit to living obediently in the power of God. I’m going to ask us to do this as we prepare for communion. Re-read the passage quietly on your own, asking the Holy Spirit to point out the areas where you are living in disobedience, and then repent of them and commit to living obediently in the daily power of God.
Story to close: (Sat.sin as soul-vomit). (Sun. my blind friends)
