Lesson 12 – Ephesians Chapter 5:1-14a

Synopsis of Chapter 4 – Unity, Gifts, Maturity, you learned Christ, do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

Eph. 5:1
“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.”

Again, we see Paul using the word “therefore.” Why is he using it? This time he’s referring back to the last verse in chapter 4, where we are told to forgive one another because God has forgiven us. In other words, Paul is saying, “It only makes perfect sense to follow the One who has forgiven you.”

We can be Christlike in our behavior by forgiving others. By doing this, we exhibit a sacrificial love toward others. Why should we do this? Because we are children of God. Just as a child likes to imitate their parents, we need to imitate God in all the things we do and say.

Matt. 5:48
“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Verse 2 gives us the how to…

Eph. 5:2
“And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”

The word “and” in the beginning of the verse should be translated “that in.” “That in Christ we walk in love.”

• Focusing on the word “walk” let’s go for a little walk…

In chapter 4:1 it says our walk should be a worthy walk, and 4:17 says that our walk is to be different than what we see the world doing. Then verse 5:8 talks about walking in the light.

John 12:35
“Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.”

Romans 13:13 – “Let us walk properly”

II Cor. 5:7 – “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Gal. 5:25 – “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Eph. 5:15 – “See then that you walk circumspectly (diligently), not as fools but as wise,”

I John 2:6 – “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as Jesus walked.”

II John 1:6 – “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.”

III John 1:4 – “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”

Rev. 3:4 – “and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.”

And then finally, perhaps when it’s all said and done, we will walk on streets of gold as told in Rev. 21:21.

All this is to say that for the Christian, our job is to walk in love every day, and to imitate Jesus in every aspect of our lives.

Imitating God’s love is now possible for us because…

Rom. 5:5
“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Romans tells us that when we accepted Jesus as Lord, God’s love was poured into our hearts, making it possible for us to walk in love, and with that love others in a godly way.

What Jesus did for us proved to be the ultimate act of love. It says in our verse that Jesus gave Himself as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. For us to imitate Christ, it will take sacrifices on the part of the believer, as we see in Romans 12:1, “That you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.” By doing this our personal sacrifice will be a sweet-smelling aroma to God. Some translations call it, a fragrant aroma.

John MacArthur, “While Christ was the sin-bearer, God could not look on Him or rejoice in Him or be pleased in Him. But when the Father raised Christ from the dead, the sacrifice that caused Him to become sin became the sacrifice that conquered sin. The sin that put Him to death was itself put to death, and the great act of love was to God as a fragrant aroma. That fragrant aroma spreads its fragrance to everyone on earth who will place himself under the grace of that sacrifice, and it will spread its fragrance throughout heaven for all eternity.”

When the “world” steps in to any situation, it usually stinks the place up. When a believer comes on the scene, we should have a fragrant aroma about us. Why should this happen? Because God’s love has been poured into us and the fact that we are imitators of Christ. Does this happen all the time? Of course not, but the more we make every effort to walk in love, the more it will become a reality in our life.

Lev. 1:9b
“And the priest shall offer up in smoke all of it on the altar for a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord.” (NASB)

The first five chapters of Leviticus describe five offerings commanded by God to the Israelites. The offering here in our verse describes Christ’s total devotion to God in giving His very life to obey and please His Father.

Rev. 8:3-4
“Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.”

As a daily practice, priests burned incense morning and evening. This was called “a perpetual incense before the Lord.” It symbolized the ministry of Jesus, our Great High Priest who makes intercessions for us. We also, as His servants, are to offer up to God our daily intercessions, pleading with Him on behalf of others and obtaining for them the blessings they need. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. (James 5:16)

By delighting ourselves in such prayer, and by keeping our lamps burning bright with God’s oil, this pleases God more than we know. Our prayers become like sweet aromas, and the fragrance reaches God, and He rejoices over us! With that, people come to know Christ, battles are won, and others will experience great victories over sin.

Phil. 4:18
“But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.”

In every aspect of our lives, we should be doing the things that are well-pleasing to the Lord.

II Cor. 2:14-16
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?”

So, when we come around others, we don’t want them thinking, “What’s that smell?” but rather, “What is that wonderful aroma I detect.”

Eph. 5:3
“But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;”

“But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;” (NASB)

One commentary writes, “The person who is involved in fornication or adultery destroys their soul, their inner person. The world doesn’t understand this. The world thinks fornication is nothing more than two bodies coming together in a moment of ecstasy. But the Bible says it’s actually two souls being joined as one. Thus, a person who engages in fornication or lives in adultery will become only a shell of a person, as layer after layer of their inner person is stripped off with each different encounter.”

Col. 3:5 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”

It was clear that Ephesus needed to hear this from Paul. They had a pagan temple dedicated to the Roman goddess Diana, which today is similar to our society, in that sexual immorality and greed ran rampant throughout Ephesus.

Immorality, impurity or greed… these things are not what it means to be imitating God, but rather we are to consider ourselves dead to these things.

Proverbs 6:32
“But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself.” (NLT)

Whatever God puts into place, satan comes right back with a counterfeit. God brought about true love and marriage, and satan temps us with fornication and immorality. When you think about it, the world’s love is lustful and self-indulgent. It’s always conditional and is always self-centered.

Immorality… (por-ni’-ah) right off you understand that’s where we get the word pornography. This refers to all sexual sin, and all sexual sin goes against God and against godly love. With immorality we get impurity which has to do with anything that is unclean and filthy. Jesus talked about it once referring to the rottenness of dead decaying bodies (Matt. 23:27). But the other ten times it’s used in the New Testament it is associated with sexual sin, such as immoral thoughts, passions, impure fantasies, and all kinds of sexual corruption.

There’s a children’s song that says; “O be careful little eyes what you see, O be careful little eyes what you see, There’s a Father up above, and He’s looking down in love, so, be careful little eyes what you see.”

My thought is this song isn’t only for children.

The thing for us to remember is that these things are all a perversion of godly love.

When it comes to immorality, impurity, or greed, the saints shouldn’t have anything to do with it. Who are the saints? You are the saint if you belong to Christ. The meaning of saints is “holy ones,” and as saints, we are to have nothing to do with the things that are unholy.

Eph. 5:4
“Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.”

NLT – Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes – these are not for you.

Back to chapter 4…

Eph. 4:29
“Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”

Mō-rol-ogia, foolish talking or silly talk is used only here in the New Testament, and is derived from the word “mows” (which means dull, or stupid, and is the word which we get moron) and lego means to speak. It is stupid talk, talk only befitting someone who is intellectually deficient. It is sometimes referred to as low obscenity, foolish talk that comes from the drunk or the gutter mouth. It has no point except to give an air of dirty worldliness.

Did your mother ever call you a gutter mouth? Or, get your mind out of the gutter.

Anyone paying attention to our culture today can see that a change has definitely over-taken our country. What once used to cause people to blush, is now nothing but a joke to them. The reason is our society has become totally desensitized to the things that are unholy. Even some politicians in our government have lowered themselves to casually using the “F” bomb.

Paul says, “These things aren’t for you my brothers and sisters.” But rather giving of thanks… so when you’re with a group of people or just a friend, and the conversation takes a sinful turn, turn it around on them by saying, “Well, what has God been doing in your life recently?”

Eph. 5:5
“For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”

The King James just says “whoremonger” instead of fornicator… that really gets to the point. A simple definition of whoremongering is: embracing a prostituted life, a man who prostitutes his body to another’s lust for hire.

The word changes, depending on who is committing the act, whether it is male or female. For example, a woman who engages in sexual immorality is called a “whore” (porne) in the KJV, but a man who does the same thing is called a “whoremonger” (pornos).

God does not tolerate sin, and this “perverted” love leads to judgment and punishment. Sin has no place in God’s kingdom and no place within His family. You don’t need a preacher to tell you, or a friend to remind you that you’re guilty. In your heart, you already know if you’re a whoremonger, an unclean person who makes sexual fulfillment an idol. These people do not have an inheritance in the kingdom of God. Going back to chapter 4, we see that this habitual behavior, this pattern of life, indeed “grieves” the Holy Spirit.

Titus 2:11-12
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,”

To drive the point home further…

I Cor. 6:9-10
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”

The verdict of God is no matter what people might claim to be, a life dominated by sin like this is damned to judgment.

Eph. 5:6-7
“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.”

“Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do.” (NLT)

Let no one deceive you with empty words… this tells us that when it comes to sin, people will try to talk you into it. We even see this in some weak churches today, where they will try to “soft-soap” sin. Soft-soaping refers to using smooth and somewhat insincere talk usually for personal gain. It is an informal term that means to try to persuade someone to do what you want by saying pleasant things to them. Someone deceiving you into sinning or trying to persuade you that there’s no real consequences to sin, is satanically inspired.

For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience…

Who are the sons of disobedience? We saw this all the way back in chapter two.

Eph. 2:2
“In which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.”

The sons of disobedience is clearly the description of un-believers, or we can say, “children of wrath.” As it says in chapter 2:3. Paul’s saying don’t hang-out with them, you can witness to them, but don’t be keeping company with them. We are to be partners with Jesus in righteousness. Don’t be imitating the world, but rather be imitators of God, as His children.

Walk in Light….

Eph. 5:8
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”

Yes, at one time we were all children of wrath, walking in darkness. But now… (here’s another big “but” for us) but now, everything has changed for the believer, we are light in the Lord. We’ve been transformed!

Just as in college football, players enter into the portal and get transferred to another team. Believers have entered God’s portal and get transformed from darkness into His light. Or in Star Trek, the saying goes, “Beam me up Scotty.” With that, Captain Kirk and Spock would enter into the transporter going back and forth through space. But with God, we come into His light permanently, we are secure in His hands, there is no going back to darkness.

As I talked about earlier… Walk as children of light, our walk corresponds to who we are in Christ. As it says in Romans 12:2, we allow God to transform the way we think, thus having the mind of Christ.

I Cor. 2:16
“For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

Having the mind of Christ means we understand God’s plan in the world, which is to bring glory to Himself, restore creation to its original splendor, and provide salvation for sinners. We also identify with Christ’s purpose, “to seek and to save what was lost.” This means we share Jesus’ perspective of humility, obedience, compassion, and prayerful dependence on the Father.

Eph. 5:9-10
“For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.”

NIV – fruit of the light is a better translation here.

“For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.” (NLT)

Psalm 27:1
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?”

Isa. 60:19
“No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light; But you will have the Lord for an everlasting light, and your God for your glory.”

Paul describes here the characteristics of the children of light, as the fruit of the Spirit or the fruit of the light. The better Geek manuscripts have it as the fruit of the light.

Our verse says, The fruit of the light is in all goodness…

I Thess. 5:15
“See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.”

John MacArthur, “Goodness finds its fullest and highest expression in that which is willingly and sacrificially done for others.”

Sinners, those who are in darkness, are characterized by the very opposite of goodness, which is evil, wickedness, and falsehoods (liars). Here in verse 10 Paul is expanding on the last part of verse 8, that to live as children of the light, a believer must understand what pleases the Lord, or what is acceptable to the Lord and then to live their life accordingly.

By walking in the light, our primary focus should be about continually seeking out what pleases God. If you know in your heart what pleases God, why wouldn’t you want to do everything you could to live that way? The last thing anyone wants to hear from God is, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”

One Bible commentary says, “As we are obedient to what we know, our knowledge of the Lord and of His will increases and deepens. As we are faithful to the light, we are given more of this light.”

Eph. 5:11
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”

“Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are.” (The Message)

We’re not to have any fellowship with evil and we’re not to participate in anything that has to do with darkness. It can be said that we are who we hang out with.

Proverbs 13:20
“Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.” (NLT)

Booker T. Washington said, “Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone then in bad company.”

The child of light shouldn’t become involved in evil even by association. It’s not something we should take lightly.

John MacArthur, “We cannot witness to the world if we do not go out into the world; and we cannot go far into the world before coming in contact with all sorts of wickedness. But we are never to identify with that wickedness or give opportunity to take hold in our own life. To compromise God’s standards is to weaken our witness as well as our character. No act of unrighteousness is permissible.”

This is totally understandable when dealing with people of the world, but when it concerns another believer, that’s a different story.

I Cor. 5:9-11
“When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.” (NLT)

Paul’s command here is direct and to the point, Christians who are to produce the righteous fruit of light are to have nothing at all to do with the unfruitful works (deeds) of darkness.

And what are these deeds? It’s a combination of what we saw in chapters 4 and 5: lusts of deceit, falsehood, stealing, unwholesome speech, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, malice, immorality, impurity, greed, filthiness, silly talk, coarse jesting, covetousness, and idolatry. There it is, be alert to these things. This warning pertains to those who call themselves believers and are certainly not living like children of light.

But rather expose them…

When we see sin, we are to expose it directly and indirectly. By not taking action to speak out against sin and not oppose evil things, is a failure to obey God. As we take action against sin, the believer is to always do it in love… walking in love.

I Cor. 13:4-6
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;”

We are not to rejoice in “iniquity” (unrighteousness), but we are to always rejoice in God’s truth. God’s Word calls for us to expose “unrighteousness,” expose the “iniquities” we see going on around us.

John MacArthur, “Unfortunately, many Christians are so barely able to keep their own spiritual and moral houses in order that they do not have the discernment, inclination, or power to confront evil in the church or in society at large. We should be so mature in biblical truth, and in obedience, holiness, and love that part of the natural course of our life is to expose, rebuke, and offer the remedy for every kind of evil.”

To take action indirectly means that we’re doing so by the way we conduct our lives. For example, when those around us see us helping others rather than hurting someone, or talking in a correct manner by not using profanity, this stands up as a godly witness, instead of going along with the crowd just to get along.

Remember, to ignore evil is to encourage it; to keep quiet about evil is to help promote it.

Eph. 5:12
“For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.”

Paul uses the term “by them” which can mean that these shameful things are done by unbelievers as well as believers.

Sin is sin and it’s all bad, but some sins are beyond giving details about. I’m sure you can easily understand that. The NLT says, “It is shameful even to talk about the things.”

So, if you ever find yourself in a counseling situation and someone is sharing what’s going on in their life and they start to go into the sinful details, stop them… otherwise you can be dragged into their sin just through your own thoughts. We don’t need any sleezy details to lead people in God’s direction.

Proverbs 6:23
“For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; and reproofs for discipline are the way of life.” (NASB)

In secret… this is a warning for Christians from indulging in the preoccupation with examining the explicit details of evils, such as investigating the occult and other perverted practices. Even if a person has the very best intentions, they can find themselves deep in the weeds of temptation.

Eph. 5:13-14a
“But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible.”

Did you ever go to the movies as a kid and go see a horror flick? You know the scene… it’s in a dark castle, thunder is rumbling, and then in an unlit room you see a casket which begins to slowly open. Out comes a hand with long ugly fingernails, and then it pushes the casket all the way open and up comes Dracula. All of a sudden the sunlight breaks through hitting the casket and Dracula slithers back into the darkness.

This is what we have here, God’s light will expose evil.

John 3:19-20
“And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.” (NLT)

When light exposes evil deeds, they become visible, revealed for what they really are.

I John 1:5-7
“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (NASB)

When sin is revealed through the light of God’s Word we can say that it loses its “hiddenness,” thus being seen for the “ugliness” it really is.

We’ll close here…

All that we covered tonight is encapsulated in verse 1, “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.”

If we are imitating God, we will surely be obeying Jesus’ command to us, that we should love one another. Loving God and loving others… just do it!