Walk in Love (Part 3 of 4)

In First Century Ephesus, the believers there were surrounded by a culture that was immoral and impure, so the Apostle Paul gave them specific instructions for how they were to live. Today on Truth for Life, we continue a message titled, Walk in Love, and in this message we'll discover an unexpected antidote to an ungodly lifestyle.

Here's Alistair Beck. Ephesians 5 verse 1, Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Amen. Father, with our Bibles open, we humbly pray for the help of the Holy Spirit so that we might not only understand what it says but that we might have a life-changing encounter with you, the living God.

There's no way that this can happen just as a result of the voice of a mere man. So we look away beyond it to you. Meet us, we pray, for Christ's sake.

Amen. Well, the verses to which we give our attention this morning are verses 3 and 4. We saw last time, when we looked at this, we gathered our thoughts under the simple phrase, Walk in Love, which you will see is right there in verse 2. I determined that that was such a good title that I would use it again and call this Walk in Love 2.

You can see I really spend a long time on thinking what to call things during the week. But it is very important that we understand that there is no incongruity between the exhortation in 1 and 2 and then the striking statement in verses 3 and 4. We ended last time by noticing that the love about which Paul is speaking is a love that he defines in terms of the sacrifice of Jesus. And we ended by acknowledging that that sacrifice is voluntary, it is propitiatory, and it is substitutionary.

Christ dies on behalf of sinners. And so Paul has opened this fifth chapter by making it clear that the believers in Ephesus are to have lives which are then marked by self-sacrifice. And in verses 3 and 4 and following, to understand that that means that they have to say no to self-indulgence. And it is this issue that confronts us here in verses 3 and 4. If we're tempted to think that part one of the exhortation is somehow comfortable—walk in love, it sounds nice, it is nice—it is actually far more uncomfortable than we realize, in that Paul is defining it in clear terms and expects it to be displayed in that way. So we're not able to invent for ourselves what it means for us to walk in love. And when we come to this second section, if we thought the first was comfortable, then we realize that this second dimension is actually radical.

It is radical. It's impossible to read verses 3 and 4 without saying to ourselves, this is a severe and stirring and striking statement. And it is to this we must give our attention. That's one of the values of going through the Bible systematically and consecutively.

It stops you from jumping over parts you might like to skip. And here you may find yourself in one. We're going to look at it from three aspects, or along three lines. First of all, by paying attention to Paul's audience. Who is Paul addressing here? Secondly, by considering how high God's standards actually are. And thirdly, by understanding, hopefully, that it is only through the gospel that any of us can ever live in this way. So first of all, then, let's notice that Paul is not admonishing the culture, he is addressing the church.

Okay? He is not admonishing the culture, he is addressing the church. And it is of vital importance that we grasp this. Because I find in myself a tendency, in coming to verses like this, to immediately apply them to somebody else. And particularly, if we're within the framework of a Bible-believing, trusting church, to come to verses like this and say, Well, this, of course, is the kind of thing that our culture desperately needs a lesson on.

And then we find ourselves sort of isolating ourselves from the impact of the text, and we dare do that. This is not for a culture that has no interest in God, but rather it is for a church that has committed itself to God. And Paul is making it clear that immorality and idolatry—of which covetousness is a part—this immorality and idolatry is not to be part and parcel of the Christian community. And of course, this was very, very difficult for the people in Ephesus, because as we've seen, the skyline, really, of Ephesus was dominated by the temple of Artemis or the temple of Diana, and she was the goddess of fertility. And so the culture was filled with all kinds of elements of sexual impropriety that were just endemic to the nature of what it meant to live in Ephesus.

The average person in the street would have thought nothing of it. Indeed, many of them—as you read Acts 19—would have been very happy to buy these little shrines of Artemis of the Ephesians and take them to their home as good-luck charms or as reminders to them of how important this actually was. Of course, we don't have to stretch too far to realize that while we may not have a great dominating temple over the cities of the United States of America, now, in the twenty-first century, it is clear that we face a similar challenge. And so let us be absolutely clear. Paul is not condemning the culture. He is exhorting the church. All right? We may want it to be the other way around, but it isn't the other way around. And he has been making it clear that the recipients of this instruction are those who have been called to be saints.

Okay? And we've seen from the very beginning of the letter that saints, contrary to many popular notions, are not a rarefied group of individuals who are canonized long after they've died as a result of their excessive piety or whatever it might be, but rather the way the New Testament uses it is of those who have been included in Christ, who have been set apart from their life as it was in Adam by nature and set apart to a whole new life as it now is in Christ. And that's why, long before Paul gets to any of these exhortations, long before he comes to these imperative statements, this is what is to be, he has given to us all of these indicative statements so that we might then understand our identity in Christ and, on the strength of that, realize that there are elements that go along with that because of who we are. So he is addressing those who are saints and who are described here in verse 1 as beloved children.

Right? The beloved children, adopted into God's family, and he really loves his children. We said last time that the greatest, most impressive love of an earthly parent for their child does not even come close to the love of God the Father for those who are his own in Jesus—that he loves us how he loved us with great love, as we sang about it in Fernando's song. And the love of God for us is something that we need never doubt, adopted into his family and his beloved children. As a result of that, there are privileges that we enjoy, and there are responsibilities that we face. Just as we said last time, there is an obligation then to display the family likeness. And that is why Paul is using language here that has to do with what is proper or what is improper, what is appropriate, what is inappropriate, what is in place and what is out of place.

It's almost amazingly antiquated, isn't it? I mean, I think those of you who are in the scientific world and deal in the realm of experimentation and deal with the importance of making sure that there are clean spaces and that there are secure spaces and everything, you're very, very clear, no, we can't put that in there, and that shouldn't be in there. That would not be the place to put this.

We couldn't have that there. In fact, we understand the nature and the importance of being negative. One of the great concerns of people is, well, we don't like the Bible. It's so negative.

Well, I find a lot of negativity out there myself. There's a very negative response of the culture to tobacco, but because that now is perfectly acceptable and James Dean is no longer alive, we can all embrace that and feel very good about ourselves. Or we can adopt that. But as soon as we come up against something that actually challenges our life and our lifestyle, then of course we want to adjust. There is that which is proper, and there is that which is improper. And the same is true in the world of art, unless, of course, you are a postmodern artist, in which case up is down, and down is up, and in is out, and out is in. And you can put the trees going up, or you can put them coming down, or sideways, or put them any way you want. If you're an old foggy like me, you look at that and go, I don't understand this at all. I thought the sky was up there, and I thought that the ground was down here, and I thought the river went there. Oh, no, no, no. No, no, you don't have to do that.

No. Well, you see, that's why years ago—was it Radmacher wrote the book Modern Art and the Death of a Culture?—that there is a definite correlation between our understanding of structure in the universe, the nature of the creative handiwork of God, and the way in which we give expression to that. So in the same way that God is himself holy, therefore the family are to be marked by holiness too. So what Paul is saying is that the immorality and the vulgarity and the idolatry is not to be present amongst the community of God's children, and in this way we're supposed to be markedly different from our pagan neighbors. When I was thinking about what is proper and what is improper, I went to my notebook here, which I carry with me all the time, and I had with me in England, and I had put this in after I'd been speaking for a couple of days at the Keswick Convention.

It's because of this notion of what is proper. And I had gone there, and on the first day I went in, and I was in my jacket and collar and tie, and I realized I was the only one out of four thousand dressed in that way. And then on the second day, the Tuesday, I said, well, I brought this stuff, I might as well wear it. So I wore it again. And then when I went back to my room, I said, This is no good.

If you can't beat them, you might as well join them. So the next day I decided to go very much like this. And I was like one verse away from stepping up to give my expositions on the psalm, when somebody tapped me on the shoulder and I didn't see who it was, but it passed down this note to me, which reads, What has happened to your jacket and tie? We so appreciated the man of God, declaring the word of God, dressed properly. Well, I get that. That's why I was dressed properly. I don't dismiss that.

But this is far more significant than whether you're wearing a tie or not. Look at what Paul says. Sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness mustn't even be named among you. Filthiness, foolish talk, crude jokes—they're out of place.

Out of place. So, what he's saying is this. Now, you Ephesian believers living in this framework, you've got to make sure that you don't allow the prevailing standards of a godless culture to influence your thinking in such a way that what is morally abnormal you start to think of as normal. That what is morally abnormal you start to think of as normal. And that, of course, is not a challenge that is lost to us in first-century Ephesus. It is a constant challenge for us in our contemporary seeking to follow Jesus. The influence of the thought forms and sexual mores of our day is so prevailing and so impressive and so constant in its bombardment that unless we bring our lives under the jurisdiction of the Bible, unless we're prepared to say, Believe in the Bible for me means I actually believe the Bible, and to believe it means I actually do what it says and I try not to do what it says I'm not supposed to do. Otherwise, it's just a sort of ancient book to be considered and to find blessed thoughts in and keep the parts that you like and get rid of all the bits you don't want. But that can't be. And so it brings us secondly to face the fact that God's standards are absolute and they're high.

God's standards are absolute and they're high. I don't think it's particularly helpful for me to unpack each of these phrases here. I did that in my study, but I think we can safely say, We get it. Right? I mean, the average ten-year-old can read this and say, I understand exactly what he's saying.

And so do we. He is not calling the church to accommodate itself to the thinking of the surrounding culture, but he is actually calling the believers in Ephesus to avoid not just the practice but even thinking about and talking about these things. That's why I say to you that the standard is incredibly high. Notice he's not saying, Don't do this. He's saying, Don't even include this in your interpersonal relationships with one another. Do not allow this kind of sexual nonsense to become the framework in which the people of God engage with one another on these matters. He's gonna go on later on and say, It is a shame to even talk of the things that are done by them in secret.

That's a high standard. You're not gonna find this really anywhere else. Perhaps in sections of Islam there will be striking statements along similar lines, without any gospel. But no, it's impossible for us to miss it. Notice what he says. Sexual immorality, impurity, and covetous must not even be named. In the NIV, the translation is, there must not even be a hint of. Gone.

Banished. Now, later in the chapter, he's going to describe the pattern, God's covenant, of marriage, down in verse 22 and on. But what he's doing here is he is setting aside—he is disengaging, if you like—every kind of sexual sin that works against the covenant of marriage.

And here you see is God's striking standard. The nature of God's purpose in the realm of human sexuality is within the framework of a covenant relationship that is heterosexual, that is monogamous, and that is lifelong. Everything and anything outside of that is actually abhorrent to a holy God. The fact that a culture has rejected that only heightens the responsibility of the people of God to say, No, we're actually different. And the line of demarcation that is being drawn at this point in our culture, in the Western world right now, is not the expression of our commitment to the exclusive claims of Jesus. The authority and inerrancy of the Bible is being tested in this realm, in this matter of sexuality. And God does not deviate from his standards.

I don't want to go through the list, as I say. The first word there is porneae, and you know that word, because it gives us our word pornography. The second word, immorality, akatharsia, is a comprehensive term in relationship to all that sets itself against the purity and purposes of God. And funnily enough, covetousness is there—a form of idolatry. Why covetousness? Has this got to do with money?

Well, I suppose it always has to do with money. We're tempted there. But given the context, surely he's thinking in terms of the tenth commandment. Covet not your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant. Don't do it, he says. Well, why would he have to give this instruction?

Because we're tempted to do it. This is not irrelevant information for people that are beyond this. This is not an opportunity for the church in Ephesus to say, Well, this is something we ought to take out into the community and publish for everybody to pay attention to. That's not what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, Listen, you declare yourself to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Let me tell you how it works. Let me tell you where it will be seen in a dramatic way in Ephesus. It will be seen in this realm. The family of God is to be marked by sanctity. And consequently, we cannot allow ourselves the privilege that we're tempted to of dirty jokes and smutty information that is part and parcel of those who do not know better or who actually do know but don't care.

Well, what will we put in its place? Sexual immorality, impurity, covetous must not be named among you as is proper among the saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joke, in which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. How is thanksgiving an antidote to all of this? Wouldn't you think it would have said, So there shouldn't be immorality, there should be morality? There shouldn't be this, there should be purity.

Well, of course, but he doesn't use that. He says by thanksgiving. It's not something that comes intuitively to us, the idea that the antidote to immorality is thanksgiving, but that's what the Bible teaches. You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life.

We're going to find out more about how this works as we continue this message tomorrow. As Alistair mentioned, it's a constant challenge in this culture to follow Jesus, as he said, unless we bring our lives under the jurisdiction of the Bible. That's why teaching the Bible is our passion at Truth for Life. We know that when God's Word is taught, unbelievers will be converted, believers will be established, and pastors and church members will be strengthened. It's also why we are very intentional about selecting books to help you grow spiritually, and today we're featuring a book that's already considered a classic by so many. It's titled Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Most of us realize the fact that spiritual growth isn't something that happens overnight, and it certainly doesn't happen on its own. The book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life unpacks ten important disciplines that will help build your spiritual muscles. These include obvious areas like frequent Bible reading, hearing God's Word preached, prayer, and worship.

But there are also lesser-known disciplines, things like solitude and journaling and learning. Here at the start of a new year, it's an excellent time to get in shape spiritually. So request your copy of Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life when you support the Bible teaching you here on Truth for Life. Check the book image in the app or visit us on our website, truthforlife.org slash donate. If you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, write to us at Truth for Life P.O.

Box 398000 Cleveland, Ohio 44139. By the way, one way to start working out now is to make it your goal to read through the Bible this year. We've got a plan to help you stay on track with that. It's Robert Murray McShane's reading plan. It'll guide you through four passages of scripture each day, and by the end of 2022, you'll have read the Old Testament once and the New Testament and the book of Psalms twice. You can download the reading plan for free at truthforlife.org slash Bible reading plan or purchase the booklet for a dollar at truthforlife.org slash store.

I'm Bob Lapine. Christ's followers are called to live in holiness and purity, which is a pretty tall order. So how do we measure up? We'll find out more as we listen tomorrow. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the learning is for nothing.