Ephesian 5-6

My Dear Brethren and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ

I would like to extend to you the love and greetings of your Brethern and Sisters of the Kouts Ecclesia.

Our reading for today in Ephesians is just a wonderful exhortation. I don’t know that we can do any better than to just listen to the words of the apostle Paul and take them to heart. The apostle makes us realize that you not only have to talk the talk but walk the walk. It isn’t good enough to be hearers of the word, but we also must be doers of the word. How we live is important. It isn’t good enough to know the truth. We must live the truth. It is not easy. I find it much easier to know the truth than to live it. That is the struggle of spirit over flesh isn’t it. There are many around us who do not look to the word of God to direct their path. We are fortunate because we have this knowledge, yet it is a constant struggle to live according to it’s principles. The apostle in our reading exhorts us to work the walk and guides us with very practical lessons.

Let’s begin by looking at the first two verses again. The apostle tells us that we are to follow God as little children. We all know that little children are great imitators. They see and they do. They watch their parents and others that are older than they and they will undoubtedly imitate what they see. They see good they imitate good, if they see evil they imitate evil. The old saying the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree is pretty true. Well, the apostle’s point is that we are supposed to look to God as our Father and therefore our example. This is evident by looking back to the last verse of chapter 4. We are to forgive others because God has forgiven us. God is the adult and we the children. We are to look to him and imitate his behavior. The example that he has given us is his son. As it says in v.2 we are to walk in love as he did. Isn’t that a beautiful phrase, "walk in love". What does that mean? The answer to that question is given to us in the same verse."…Hath given himself for us" this is what it means to walk in love. If you love you give yourself for others. You put others ahead of yourself. You make sure their needs are taken care of. When we look at this verse we think that we can’t do it. It seems as though we are being asked to die on the cross like Jesus did for us. As it says, "an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor." We are told to take up our cross daily, so we are not to actually die in this sacrifice. In Romans, Paul tells us to present our bodies a living sacrifice. Well as in all things Jesus is our Example. We are to live in a sacrificial manner. We are to sacrifice our desires, our will, to those of God and give ourselves to others. Jesus had compassion for the multitude that followed him when they hadn’t eaten. He was concerned that the disciples were tired and commanded that they go with him to a desert place to rest. As he died upon the cross he made provision for the care of his mother. He didn’t think of himself, and his condition, he thought of others. It is an amazing example that we are supposed to follow isn’t it. I find it very humbling when I look at my life and how I live it and then look at the example of our lord.

When I come home from work, I am tired. I deserve to sit down and relax. I deserve to have some one fix me my dinner. I deserve to watch some TV, after all I put in a hard days work. That is not walking in love. That is not giving for others. That is the flesh winning over the spirit.

In verses 3-5 the apostle lists many gross sins that he warns the Ephesians to stay away from. This is also part of our walk. It involves trying to stay away from sin. This is a very important part of our walk. Let’s read Matt. 5:27-30.

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

I believe a brother speaking on these verses said that when you first think about them that they don’t make sense. If I am looking at things that are bad and I pluck out an eye, I can still see with the other one. Maybe I have to sit a little closer to the TV, but I could still see it. Or if I go to bad places and cut off a foot I can still get there. I may have to hop on a pair of crutches but I can still do it. So what is the point? The point is that it is very important to avoid temptation. It is so important that if cutting off a body part would stop us from doing evil then we should. Jesus was emphasizing the importance of trying not to sin. He knew our nature, and he knew that when we sin that it becomes easier to do it the next time, and even easier the time after that. So we are to avoid sin in our walk. "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" The apostle asked that question in Rom. 6 and we all know the answer. So in Ephesians 5 we see the apostle warning the ecclesia to avoid sin. He makes this point very imphatically in v.5

For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Sometimes I think we can think that because we avoid committing some of the more gross sins that we are in good shape. If we lived as a hermit and never left the house we could avoid many temptations and perhaps many sins also. Yet we would only be concentrating on one aspect of our walk. It isn’t enough to just avoid sinning. We have to do good. It is pretty hard to walk in love when you avoid contact with others. We can’t give to others when we isolate ourselves. So what are we to do?

Lets read verses 8-14

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, ‘Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light’.

We are to walk as children of light. Light is using God’s word. It is the wisdom of God’s word. Light is produced when we take in the oil of God’s word and combust it or burn it so that those around us can see it in action. To walk in the light is to walk according to the knowledge of the word of God, to see his word and to be obedient to it. We are to be children of light it says. That means that we are begotten of the light. We live in the light. We have come out of the darkness and live according to the light. Lets read Matthew 5:14-16

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

If we walk in the light we do good works. The works we do are evidence that we wqalk in the light of the word of God. If our works are evil then we walk in darkness. The apostle warns the Ephesian Ecclesia to walk in the light and refrain from the darkness. Not only are we to refrain from them we are to reprove them. We are to speak out against them. We being children of light are to make them manifest. We are to show that they are evil, not people but certain evil works. Many people today don’t understand that certain things are sinful. Certain sexual practices are accepted as the norm and as not being sin today. We must shine the light of the word on these practices and let people know, especially our children that these things are wrong.

Let’s read again verses 15-20

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

We are to walk circumspectly. According to the dictionary circumspect means "heedful of consequences." We are to walk circumspectly, we are to walk thinking about the consequences of our actions. We aren’t supposed to go through life without direction or purpose. We understand what the choices are and we must choose what it right and live accordingly. We must think about our life, we must analyze our life. We must decide what we will do and what we won't do based on the consequences. We are to think about when we will do the readings, when we will pray, when we will help others. We are to plan our life as much as we can, to do what is right. We shouldn’t go through life just surviving from one event to the next, just going here or there based on what we need to do to get paid and buy our food and pay our bills. We need to realize that existing like that is what most of the world does. We need to work out our salvation. We need to think about the way we live and be wise about it as the apostle says. We need to redeem the time. We need to think about how we spend our time. The events in the past few weeks have certainly helped us to think about how much time we have left, till our Lord returns. We don’t know but we do know that it could be anytime. We don’t know how long we have to live, so we have to live each day as though it is our last. Get organized, put some thought into your life, and live it circumspectly.

As always when we want an example to follow we look to our Lord. He lived every day circumspectly. He thought always about the consequences of his actions, and he always did what was right. He walked in the light. His light shone brightly to others. He reproved the darkness, he showed people the evil of their ways. "The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up." He walked in love. He gave his life as a sacrifice for sin that we might live. When we partake of these emblems let us remember his life as well as his death and recommit ourselves to living according to his example. We are to look to him as our example of how to live our life. We are told to take up our cross and follow him. We need to work in his footsteps as best we can.

So how do we walk in love, how do we walk in the light, how do we walk circumspectly? We do it as it says in v. 19-20, by being filled with the spirit. We are to fill ourselves with the spirit of God. We do that through his word and by speaking to each other psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, giving thanks always for all things to God.

We know that it is much easier to exhort on how we should walk than it is to actually walk that way, but we can each make the decision now to walk more circumspectly in light and in love.

Exortation given April 14, 2001 by Bro. Paul Wilson
Wanatah Christadelphian Ecclesia