Ephesians 5: 1 NLT
“Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.”
That is Paul’s opening statement of this chapter – his thesis as he gives the overriding proclamation of what guides your life. Keep those words in mind as you read the next specific things Paul is concerned about.
Ephesians 5: 3 – 14 NLT
“Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. 4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
6 Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7 Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,
“Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”
Two general categories of sin are described in these verses – sexual sin and greed. In our culture today, those two things are very accepted. They really wouldn’t be categorized as sin.
Our physical bodies are sexual, we can’t deny or avoid that. Genesis 2: 15 – 25 gives us the story of God creating Adam and Eve and the account finishes with “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” Paul will actually go on later in this chapter to describe what a healthy marriage should be like. Sex itself is not sin within a marriage.
Today, sex outside of marriage is considered normal, just fine. Many types of sexual activity are also acceptable. You can look up the definition of LBGTIQA+ on the internet and discover it stands for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual and many other terms such as non-binary and pausexual. In Canada, the community is sometimes identified as LGBTQ2 (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and two spirit)”. (wikipedia)
As Christians, I don’t think we are to be outwardly condemning and hateful toward these people. I need to remember God loves everyone, and that person who has decided that sexual sin is just fine won’t find God or forgiveness if he/she meets with harsh criticism from me. Any criticism needs to be done in love. But we are in a tough situation today as Christians because we are criticized for believing sex is for marriage between a man and a woman. When I read about sex education in today’s classrooms, and the practices that are accepted in schools, I’m not sure how I would deal with that as a parent or as a teacher. It would be difficult and stressful.
Paul also mentions “obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes”. That doesn’t seem as bad as actual sexual sin, but we need to be careful in the way we talk. Don’t treat lightly things that are not positive and admirable.
The other sin Paul talks about is greed. Greed is focusing on what we can have materially in this life. That is definitely part of our culture – higher pay; larger homes; beautiful clothes, jewellery, anything to look better; good cars; exotic vacations – more is good. Today in our world, there are Christians who are wealthy and others who are poor. Many are considered middle-class. God uses these people in their various enviroments to spread his good news. It is not a sin to be wealthy, or even middle-class. The sin is putting ‘getting ahead’ the focus of our lives.
What should we focus on?
“For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” (v. 8 – 9) The Sermon on the Mount also talks about us being light. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. ” (Matthew 5: 14 – 16)
We don’t have to focus on the sin we see around us. Instead focus on how we can share God’s love with the people in our lives. Verse 10 in the scripture today says, “Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.” Think about your life. Are there any ways you can share God’s love at home, at work, or in our community? How can you be loving, positive, helpful …?
We can bring light to the people in our lives.
“You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2: 9)
Our song for today is Down in MyHeart (Joy) by Joseph O’Brien