Ephesians Chapter 5 Verses 1 – 2

Throughout the New Testament, seven times we are instructed to be imitators of followers. Paul gives us instruction; Peter gives us instruction; John give us instruction; and the writer of the Hebrews does once as well. Here, we are told to be imitators of God. In 1 Corinthians 4:16 and 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul instructed for us to be imitators of him as he imitates Christ. In 1 Thessalonians 1:6, Paul tells us to follow those that are following the Lord. Interestingly, in 1 Thessalonians 2:14, Paul tells us to become imitators of the churches. The writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 6:12 tells us to be imitators/followers of those that are faithful. In 3 John 1:11, we are told to imitate what is good. And finally, Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:13 to become followers or imitators of that which is good and in that we would learn to avoid allowing evil to be effective in our lives.

So, easy peasy for me. Here’s one that is easy peasy! Disarm the reach of evil specific to myself, because that’s really all I can control, how? Ephesians 5. Follow God. As I see Him doing, I decide to do. Follow (even imitate) those that I see are able to discipline their own hearts to follow God. Find a church that worships in Spirit and in truth and open my heart to be led. Learn what is good, follow that too. Easy peasy…

Track every reach of evil into my story back and if I had gone that route, what we just discussed, that evil would not have been effective in my life! Same for you… So, take that rebel spirit, that desperate need for us to prove ourselves to us, and shelf it. And learn…

Paul says to do this as dear children. The word in the Greek is agapetos. Little lovelies. Little lovers. Ha! Little night lights. Glow worms! HA! Simple, humble, willing…, in many ways we are to be childlike. Children naturally imitate. That’s why our Children’s Ministry team knows more about you than I do! HA! Your kids sell you out! HA!

Kiddos, we are supposed to be willing to listen and yield as God speaks, and that is a spiritual discipline because it will not naturally be what we do… The problem is, at least for me, I’m far too often not childlike but rather childish. Take my ball and go home! HA! But hey, back to easy peasy… According to the Bible, we don’t actually ever, not one ounce or inch, grow up in maturity until we are ok with being childlike in our heart of hearts…

It’s an odd thing, ironic for sure…, but Jesus said in Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth…” and it was Paul that said at the beginning of Chapter 4 of Ephesians (Ephesians 4:1-2) that this is how we walk worthy of God…, “with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.” So, how do I access easy peasy…, not so easy, eh? Be a little lovely lover in your heart of hearts. And that’s actually the path to power.

Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:6-7, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you…” So, walk in love, Paul continues there in verse 2. How? What does that mean? To walk in love is to give your life a living sacrifice to God. Just as Jesus gave Himself literally as a living sacrifice for you, to God, that’s our example and standard of love. Agape…and we are to be, to grow up to be, agapetos.

Ephesians Chapter 5 Verses 3 – 4

The point is, these things don’t fit. That’s the word Paul uses twice here. It’s like using an international plug in the United States. Doesn’t work. It’s not from here. Wrong configuration. No power. Check this out, talk about fit, did you know that Mr. Roger’s middle name was McFeely!? For real! Go Google it! See, that fits! What if his middle name was McMurderer!? HA! Wouldn’t fit. Just like these works of the flesh in the life of a person that should be imitating Jesus…, little agapetos!

These are the things that will welcome evil to be effective in the life of a believer. And that will sap your power, character, person, attitude, all of it… Now things like blessings, maturity, character capacity, patience, goodness, gentleness…, in the company of these things Paul just listed, those things become just confusing and certainly no purpose! It’s just like twice this week…, TWICE, I was sitting in thick traffic, just inching along at 10 or 20 MPH on the highway and I keep the little map up on my phone on the dash to show me where the traffic is slow and it said, “Speed Check Ahead.” I was like, SO WHAT!? HA! What good is a speed check in thick traffic, ya dummies!? Same thing with blessing and the fruit of the Spirit in the midst of a carnal life. It’s just no GOOD! Throw some fruit into that poop group! HA!

Paul says rather think about, learn about, grow to understand who God is, who you are, and what God has done for you in Jesus and develop like a muscle in a gym a heart and lifestyle of gratitude. The truth is if you put great and attitude together you get gratitude. One leads to the other. And for a person to be full of greatness, they must first be grateful. It’s just how it works, man.

And a heart that is wise enough to understand these things will be immune in a way (think about it, a vaccine that actually works, ha!) vaccinated from things that take away, chip away, steal away who you are. Make no mistake, living, walking, doing things that are not of the Lord, sin, not fitting for the saint, these things chip away at who you even are and sometimes, in some circumstances, sledge hammer away… And Paul gets even a bit more aggressive with it as we finish up for today…

Ephesians Chapter 5 Verses 5 – 7

At the time that Paul penned this letter, there was a very popular sect of Christianity called Gnosticism. It was prevalent and popular because it was super appealing to the carnal mind, which means it’s going to sell easily. Gnosticism taught, among other things, that everything physical, material, was inherently evil. The material world was not of God. God is Spirit, Jesus said that Himself in John 4:24, and so since all things physical were not of God then all of it is basically evil… It is the spiritual side of a person that is pure.

So, the teaching was that what was done in the body, the physical side of life, really didn’t matter because it was the spiritual side that counted. That teaching is still very alive and well today in several mainstream and even traditional church movements, groups and reformations. Paul strikes this error down clearly…, as well (I might say) as does the rest of scripture.

Yes, you and I are saved by grace through faith and its not of works lest anyone should boast, and yes there is nothing at all that can snatch us out of the hand of God, all of that is true, but the kingdom of Christ and God as Paul wrote in Romans 14:17 is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Neither/None of those three things come from sin…

And so, Paul lays this out for you and for I in addressing how we are to think and conduct ourselves as Christians… And not be dumb about this… dark living leads to dark life. I mean, DUH! The kingdom of Christ and God is not just heaven to come! The Bible speaks of eternal life, yes, in the presence of the King but the Bible also speaks equally of everlasting life which is now, right now, at the moment the Holy Spirit shows up in a heart…

To think or say or reason somehow that the Spirit of God shows up in my heart of hearts with no intention of changing me from the inside out and cleaning up my life to make me pure and powerful and right-on in my dealings and more like Christ is to deny the Word and reject the faith and absolutely MISS what God has purposed for me in Christ. I step forward towards God’s incredibly and awesome plan for me as I trust Him above my own futility of mind…, period!

Paul warns us too that if we can live like this without conviction, because come on, all of us do these things according to Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount, but if we can continue in these things just like we were before Christ then it could very well be that we are yet without Christ! Paul says sin without conviction is a warning that perhaps I am or you are a child of disobedience. Which really just means, someone who doesn’t believe.

Let me show you. Hebrews 3:15-18, ““Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?”

Ok, the writer of Hebrews talks about those that rebelled, refused to obey God, missed the rest of God. Both on earth and implication of eternal rest as well. Now look at the connection in the next verse. Hebrews 3:19, “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” Make no mistake, disobedience, refusing the leadership of God in my life/in your life as a style of life, a definition of who you are, isn’t disobedience…, go one layer down, ask why…, it’s unbelief. For which is truly the single call and requirement of heaven.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever would BELIEVE in Him would not perish but have everlasting life! Heaven…, but also have EVERYLASTING life. The Kingdom of Christ and God today. Do you have that?