PLEASE NOTE: these are the notes I use to preach from, if you would like to hear them in context, please watch our YouTube video.

-Imitation as the sincerest form of flattery, when my sisters would copy my it drove my nuts! Now that I have kids it’s adorable and terrifying! I also see my kids starting to compare themselves to other kids they spend time with (according to my kids, every other person we know has better toys than we do!) In our age, we see imitation taking place all the time! From FOMO to trying to keep up with a family in CA to nervous tics developing in high schoolers because they watch too many TikTok videos. What you take in matters greatly for how you end up living your life!

            -bad company ruins good morals 1 Cor. 15:33

            -who/what are you spending time with?

READ/PRAY

1. Walk in Love (1-2)

-Once again, Paul builds off what he said in the previous section with “therefore”

-Gave some specific instructions about things to “put off” and other things we’re supposed to “put on.” Not enough to just remove something, has to be replaced with the right thing, otherwise it will remain broken.

-Remember the last verse from Eph 4 last week: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Christ serves as the model for the rest of us as to what putting on forgiveness looks like, but then he takes it a step further at the beginning here: “be imitators of God, as beloved children.”

-Whether they want to admit it or not (depends on their age) children in some form or fashion imitate their parents. There’s good and bad things about that, right? There are some cases where I see my kids doing something I always do and I’m thrilled! There’s other times where I see my kids doing something I do and I worry because I know exactly where it will end up! Another way of thinking about this is asking the question: who do you look like? You can’t help but look, act, think like your parents! So does the way you’re living look like God or not?

-This imitation is bracketed by 2 examples: forgiveness and love. The 2 most difficult traits (I think) for us as believers. Jesus forgave literally everything, yet I struggle forgiving my kids when they break something! And Jesus loved all of us when we were His enemies, I struggle to love people that are annoying!

-But let’s think briefly about what this love looks like. 1 John has a lot to say about love, but 1 passage ties into this verse perfectly 3:18 “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth.” How hard is that? We saw that a couple weeks ago “speak the truth in love” Our love must be visible in our lives, otherwise we’re not being obedient to God’s Word. And Paul goes on:

-This love is meant to be the same way that Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. This fragrant offering is a reference back to the OT as a way of signifying the offering was acceptable. Lev. 1 repeats 3 times “It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.” Because of Jesus’ perfect and acceptable sacrifice, we can now offer our lives as a living sacrifice Rom. 12:1 “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Church, this is how we imitate God: by pursuing sacrifice. But Paul doesn’t stop there in Rom 12, but goes on to say:

-Similarly in Ephesians, Paul goes on to describe what this transformation looks like:

• Walk in Light (3-14)

-“But” Paul begins by noting that this is a contrast to the previous section. Being imitators of God means some things must not be true of us. 3 groups of 3 overview: sexual sin, the way you speak, idolatry.

-First 3: sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness. All referring to some kind of sexual sin. 

-First is the general “porneia” in the Greek refers to any kind of sexual sin outside the bounds of marriage. Must be said, there is a sexual morality, faithfulness to how God designed/ordered human relationships to operate/flourish. Throughout history there has been all sorts of deviation from God’s intended purpose to sex, our culture isn’t even close to as morally depraved as the 1^st century!

-Second is impurity. This generally refers to a moral brokenness, and often some kind of sexual sin. 

-Third is covetousness, which connects directly to the 10^th Commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.”

-Paul is saying there shouldn’t be even a hint of sexual immorality among believers. “must not even be named” isn’t referring to talking about these issues, it’s saying that people on the outside looking in at believers shouldn’t have any reason to bring up these charges against a believer. Holiness, Christlikeness, demands that we fight against these sexual sins that have been issues since the fall.

-If you read much in the Christian news sphere, the time period I grew up in has been under intense scrutiny for what is now known as the purity movement. Good desires/motivations, terrible execution! The pinnacle was “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” by Joshua Harris, who went from there to serving as a pastor, and then just a couple years ago he announced that he was divorcing his wife and no longer following Christ. Again, good desires! The free love of the 60s led to a lot of hurt and pain in people, so in a desire to try to protect their children they did the best they thought they could! But when the only message given is: sex is bad, don’t have sex otherwise you’ll get pregnant and have a terrible marriage it leads to a whole host of difficulties! Add to that an unwillingness in the church to actually engage how we think about and pursue healthy sex, and it’s no wonder our world is confused about God’s point and purpose for sex.

-All that background to say, if you have sexual sin in your background, or if you’re currently wrestling through any kind of sexual sin (pornography, same sex attraction, lust) drag it into the light! Share your struggles with someone who loves you and cares about you, and if you don’t have anyone like that get more involved and invested here! This is literally why God has given us the church! We’ll be taking more about this issue when we get to marriage in a couple weeks, but don’t let today pass by without bringing your sin into the light so that we, as Christ’s holy bride, will not even have a hint of sexual sin in our midst.

-Similarly, Paul’s next 3 sins of how you talk: filthiness, foolish talk, and crude joking, some of these words also refer to sexual jokes again. 

-Why does language matter so much? Jesus said that if you want to measure how well you’re growing in your sanctification, look at the words that come out of your mouth (Luke 6:45: “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”) 

-You may hear something like this and think “what place does humor have?” I love comedians, I love a good joke, I love funny stories, is that what Paul is talking about here? Thankfully no! Even the Bible has some pretty funny situations and stories (ask me about Ehud sometime, the Southpaw assassin!) Even Jesus told jokes! He called the Pharisees “whitewashed tombs” and then accuses them of straining out a gnat but then forgetting to filter out the camel, he also said it’s easier for a rich person to get to heaven than a camel to go through the eye of a needle. That’s a funny image! Yet jokes have a time and a place, and making a joke at the expense of another human is belittling and dehumanizing to them. This also tells us that there are some areas about which we shouldn’t joke. One of the ones I’ve been contemplating recently is using sex as a joke. It’s meant to be a beautiful picture of the union of the Godhead, but because we don’t like to talk about it, or it makes us uncomfortable, we turn it into a laugh. It’s easy to use a timely jab to alleviate tension or get a laugh, but it’s not how God has called us to live! Think of one of the verses Micah preached on last week:

–Eph. 4:29 “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Church, even in your joking, you should find ways to use it to give grace! And when, not if, you offend, be quick to apologize and seek reconciliation. 

-How is thanksgiving the antithesis of this? Corrupting talk comes about because we’re not grateful for all the ways God has provided for us. 

-CS. Lewis: “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” 

-Instead of using your words to tear other people down or revel in sin, use your words to give praise and thanksgiving to God for the immeasurable ways He’s blessed you! 

-Last set of 3 are a repeat of before, but this time Paul connects these ideas to false worship, that is idolatry. 

-One note that I’ve shared before is Ephesus had many cultic influences, home of one of the ancient wonder of the world, the temple to Artemis, the fertility god. Our culture is not the first to turn sex into a god. People are tempted by the same sins today, it just takes different names!

-What do you think the connection between covetous and idolatry is? We covet when we either don’t like what we have or we want more than what we need. I was having a talk with some guys last week about how much is enough? Just a little more. Did you know that a survey demonstrated that happiness directly correlates to your annual salary, but only up to $75,000, from there on out there’s much less of a correlation. How much is 75K? Solidly middle-class. Enough to provide for your needs, set up an emergency fund, and not be stressed about your next meal. From there on out it’s diminishing returns.

-Those who don’t kill these sins have no inheritance in God’s kingdom.

-Remember the big deal Paul made in Eph. 1 about the fact that we are adopted, and since we’re adopted we have all the rights and privileges of being children of God? Those rights and privileges are dependent on us looking like our dad, representing Him to the rest of his creation. Yet all of us fall short of that standard, don’t we? What hope do we have of actually imitating God like we’re supposed to? Thankfully that’s where along with adoption comes the fact that we are now “In Christ.” So it’s no longer about us perfectly measuring up to God’s standard, because Jesus already did, and when God looks at us He now sees Jesus standing in our place! However, there are going to be people until Christ comes back that will either downplay the severity of what God’s saying here, or will add additional rules and stipulations onto what Christ has already accomplished.

-“Empty words.”

-Quite the phrase, isn’t it? A bag of hot air! In context, this is referring to someone who downplays the severity of sin, or lowers God’s perfect standard. Let’s think back to the first time someone questioned the validity of God’s standard? The serpent in the very beginning: “Did God really say?” That’s the epitome of “empty words.” And even looking at the way Eve was tempted is true of us today: she looks, she notices that it’s delightful, and then she desires it and takes it. That’s a summary of every sin you commit!

-There’s increasing pressure in our culture today to cave into these “empty words” I see people responding with anger, or saying it’s time to move on from a gentle answer, or pastors accused of being woke for tweeting a Bible verse. Or even to downplay the reality and effects of sin (remember what we just saw about how destructive sexual sin is!). If you want to live a life to the fullest, be obedient to God, because otherwise you’ll be under God’s wrath. Sometimes that means there will be ramifications for your sin on this side of heaven, but it is guaranteed to have implications for eternity, which is why God gives us each new day as an opportunity to rededicate our lives to Him, and why we have the reminder in the Bible that His mercies are new every morning! So even if you give into the empty words, don’t run away from God, His grace is still enough.

-“Do not become partners with them.” How do we obey this and still obey the great commission to go into all the world and make disciples?

-We need to remember that we are both in but not of the world. We don’t live the same way, we don’t have the same motivating force, we’re living as citizens of heaven! We live a normal, human life, but we don’t participate in sin the same way the unbelievers we spend time with will. 

-Now, in your evangelism, don’t sin either! If you’re an alcoholic, don’t go to the local brewery as an attempt to witness to others! If you’re materialistic, maybe don’t go to the mall with your unbelieving friends. However, don’t waste the unique ways God has equipped you to evangelize. Your house isn’t yours, God has placed you there to be a light shining in your neighborhood, so don’t hide your light, don’t extinguish your light, shine brightly, and look for opportunities to share the gospel in what you say and in how you live:

-“Were darkness, are light” BIG difference! 

-If we are light, we carry the light with us wherever we go, so go into the darkness and bring the light to it. 

-If we are light, the fruit that comes out of that is the opposite of the 9 descriptions Paul laid out at the beginning. Should make you think of another fruit of 9 Paul lists in Gal. 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These fruit will never fail, never rot, never go out of style, and if put into practice will be radically different than the way the world wants us to operate. As I’ve shared before, I can’t get over the gentleness piece. Where do you see gentleness in our world today? You SHOULD be seeing it in those who claim Christ! If you’re not gentle, are you walking in the light? 

-The fruit of the Spirit is how we can please the Lord. By living a fruit filled life, we will by our conduct expose the unfruitful works.

-One of the pieces we need to be aware of as children of the light is we need to live our lives in the light. That means we need to bring our sins and struggles into the light and share our struggles with other believers. James 5 commands us to confess our sins to each other, to shine the light into the darkness of our sins. One thing this means is that we must be willing to share every area of our lives with someone(s). Doesn’t need to be the same person, but if you have areas of your life that no one else knows about, you’re not truly known, not truly living in the light, and not trusting God’s forgiveness for your sins.

-It’s ok to no be ok, but open yourself up to not just stay there, wallowing in your not ok-ness. Be connected to other believers (the church) who will love you despite your sins! Expose those areas to the light, if you’re in Christ you don’t have anything to fear! What will the judgment of humans do to you? Remember, you’re seated with Christ in heaven!

–Vs. 14 connects to Eph. 2:1 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world.” 

-Now that we’ve been raised with Christ, Christ is shining on us, in us, and through us, therefore we:

• Walk in Wisdom (15-17)

-God has given us wisdom through the indwelling of His Spirit who illuminates His Word to help us know how to live. That’s how we walk carefully. Word -> wise walking.

-My love for reading came about through paying attention to driving. “No parking” on a street we drove regularly. Need to know the rules in order to drive wisely, similarly we need to know God, who created and ordered everything we see around us, and the rules He has given that will lead to flourishing. This even ties into the next vs:

-How do we make the best use of the time?

-Extremism is workaholism, or guilt for having down times. Doing versus being. God has called us to be so that we can do, not the other way around.

-Jesus, when He was on earth, was limited by time and space. Do you know what He did really well? Sleep. Withdraw from the crowds. Pray. Spend time at the synagogue (church). Spend time with his closest friends. Partied. How do we make the best use of the time? We put God first, use everything we do as a tool to worship Him. Eating, drinking, sleeping, walking, nothing is off limits to worship Him! 

-This is how we’re not foolish, we’re not idolaters, and Paul lands with understanding the Lord’s will: 

–1 Thess. 4:2 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” Holiness. 

–1 Thess. 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

-This is difficult for us! To have not even a hint of sin, to rejoice always, to pray for everything, to be legitimately grateful people no matter what our circumstances are telling us. Yet that’s exactly what God allows us to be. It’s not work harder, it’s not clean up your act, it’s give up, die to yourself, and allow God to actually work in you. It’s be a perfectly normal human being, who has rightly ordered your life, who is shining as light (the fruit of the Spirit) and then day by day becoming better imitators of our perfectly heavenly Father.