Written ~ 09-26-2024
Read Ephesians Chapter Five
Ephesians 5
Again, in chapter five… Paul is giving us some very straightforward instructions to living a godly life. When we put these verses into action; think of it as a much-needed prescription, when you go to the doctor and you do what he tells you to do, there will be healing in your body. If you ignore the practical advice, you will continue on an unhealthy and possibly a deadly path. Sometimes Scripture speaks so plainly, if we open our hearts to what it is saying, it is not difficult to understand. This chapter is like that… So, let’s get right into it… this is a jammed packed chapter!
Ephesians 5:1-9…
1 “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. 4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
6 Do not be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey Him. 7 Do not participate in the things these people do. 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So, live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.”
In our world today promiscuity is rampant, it’s sad to see how each generation has gotten caught up in everything these verses warn us about, especially today, with our young people and young adults. Without the Lord, these lives are living in a tailspin without realizing their limitations and where they are headed. That’s why the constant prayer of believers is so imperative these days. We need to pray for our young people, we need to pray for Salvation.
Verse 5:6 really struck my heart… “Do not be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey Him.”
Are you being fooled? Do you seek out your friends or family who will condone this kind of behavior? We’ve talked about false teachers before… Do you go looking for a pastor or teacher who will say anything “feel good” so your conscious isn’t bothered? Please beware, the consequences are not worth the indiscretion you want to continue in, “God’s anger will fall on all who disobey Him.” Be careful dear ones that you are not the one condoning these behaviors or conducting your life in this way. As believers we are to live as examples of Christ, to imitate God and be the light of Jesus! Verse 5:7 could not be any clearer… “Do not participate in the things these people do.”
When Jesus took up residence in your heart, the Holy Spirit began guiding your thoughts and actions. The lure towards promiscuity should diminish quickly as you pour over the Scriptures and learn how to be the example God is asking you to be! We cannot condone sin; we actually need to shed light on it. Look at verses 5:8-9… “For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So, live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.”
When you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He filled you with His light! “So, live as people of light!”
In a world so full of darkness, when we go out into that world, we should look different, sound different, our actions should be different, why? Because Jesus Christ cannot help but shine His light through us! That’s who He is! He is Love, He is Joy, He is Light.
We are to be light! That means we are not to involve ourselves with those things found in the darkness…
- Sexual Immorality
- Impurity
- Greed
- Telling Obscene Stories
- Foolish Talk (Gossip)
- Coarse Jokes (Dirty Jokes)
- Idolatry (Worship of anything other than God)
Ephesians 5:10-14…
10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,
“Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”
Wake up! The world doesn’t have anything we should crave. There is darkness that we should not even consider toying with. My prayer is that as believers, we would know the difference between evil intentions and the light of Christ. But the enemy likes to deceive, he likes to twist what’s bad to look good and what’s good to look bad. That’s why Paul says to “Awake, O sleeper…” if we decide to go about our day without our eyes and ears open to the truth, we will be deceived. When you hear the comments like, “Everyone’s doing it, it can’t be all that bad.” Wake up and run! This is a slippery slope!
Verse 5:14 says that when we awaken and rise, it is like we are rising from the dead. Isn’t that what happened when we became Born Again? We were dead in sin and darkness, but when Christ entered in, we rose with Him in light. “Christ will give you light.” Verse 5:10 says, “Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.” That means we need to make decisions based on the Word of God. If we do not know the Scriptures, how are we going to know what pleases the Lord?
Ephesians 5:15-20…
15 “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly but understand what the Lord wants you to do. 18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In my Bible, the title to this passage of Scripture is: “Living by the Spirit’s Power.” That is what every believer should pursue, we must live by the power of the Holy Spirit. It might be that at times a constant reminder is needed so, as believers, we can readily recall that we have the Holy Spirit of the Almighty Living God living inside of us! When Paul says that we must be careful how we live, are we doing it? Or do we get mixed up with the temptations of the world? Are we living like fools or living in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit?
Ephesians 5:18…
18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit…”
This verse speaks about being drunk, alcohol has always been a huge debate within the church whether it’s ok or not ok to consume. What I want to say about this topic… though I believe it is a personal conviction for every believer… I think anything that does not allow you to be filled with the Holy Spirit at all times and walk in the wisdom of Holy Spirit at all times is not something a believer should be a part of. And that goes for any temptation the world wants to throw at you. Anything that draws your attention from the Lord is something “that will ruin your life.” When I am reading the Word of God, and I see the word “don’t” in front of an action… it cannot be any clearer to understand what the Lord’s stance is on the matter.
So, let’s look at two different scenarios… you are hanging out, let’s say at a back yard BBQ, you’re amongst a group of believers, it’s just a casual get together. The beer bottles are cracking, the wine bottles are popping, the rap music is thumping, the “joy” becomes incoherent because intoxication begins to set it. Is this what you want to be involved in? Sure, I get it, it’s “fun” and you can condone your behavior as much as you want… but where is your light? How is Jesus shining His light through you? The second scenario is a different setting all together… believers coming together, it’s still a backyard BBQ, but instead of hearing beer and wine bottles clinking, the conversation is filled with the Holy Spirit, the music is giving Praise to the Almighty God, the joy that is filling the atmosphere is because the Lord is shining through everyone’s behavior. Verse 5:17 says, “Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” Paul’s words here just can’t get much clearer than that. Where there is understanding, there is knowledge and wisdom.
Ephesians 5:21-26…
21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 “For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.
25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.”
OK… WOW! I wanted to look at these verses with fresh eyes. Over the years I have heard many sermons on these verses. The pastor would always start the message with something like, “Don’t be mad at me ladies, these verses are in the Bible.” And give a little chuckle, and the congregation would laugh. I never liked that. It seemed to me that anytime a pastor turned to this passage of Scripture the ladies in the church would put up their guards and fight against anything that was going to be said. As soon as they heard those four words “submit to your husbands” they completely tune out. Well, I don’t want to do that, I want to be the type of wife who follows the instructions of the Lord.
Now, if you are unmarried and long to be married – what a wonderful set of verses for you to use when praying for your future spouse. To pray for a godly marriage and to pray that both of you would be ready for the commitment that’s necessary for a marriage relationship, to have these verses as a foundational piece for that future marriage, what a blessing!
When I read over these verses, I wanted to have a different mindset, I didn’t want to have a pastor’s chuckle and joke about these verses echoing in my head. I wanted the Lord to give me a new mind, a new thought, to open my eyes and reveal His heart in these verses. By doing so, it truly shined a light on a couple of things that I honestly, had not thought of before. If you are a woman reading these verses, the word submit always seems to be the one word that stops us, we don’t want to move on any further in these verses. Now, I am not talking about everyone – the word submit may not be a problem or a difficult concept and I think that’s awesome!
But I want to look at this differently, in a way that I can understand and apply to my marriage – with fresh eyes.
I find it sad that the four words “submit to your husbands” is too often used in a joking manner, it is vitally important that we don’t overlook them, because look at what the next four words say, “as to the Lord.”
“Submit to your husbands as to the Lord.”
So, what if we change the word submit, to the word love, not taking away the meaning or the specificity for Paul using the word submit, but for women to see this verse in a different light.
Wives love your husbands as you love the Lord!
So, my love for the Lord is deeply felt, the Lord provides me with comfort, protection and help when I am in need. The Lord is who I go to first to tell my heart’s desire, to talk about my dreams. The Lord is who I look at in awe, I have built my relationship with the Lord, by trusting Him, believing in Him, having confidence in Him. I know the Lord will always be there for me.
The love I have for my husband should parallel my love for my Lord! Let me think about that for a moment…
Do my actions, words and attitude towards my husband parallel my words, attitude, and actions towards the Lord?
As Christians, we are a body of believers known as Christ’s church. Christ is the head of His church; He gave everything for His church – and as His church we look to Him for guidance.
So, wives… when you have a godly, Christ following husband he is being paralleled here with Christ. A Christian husband is fully submitted to the Lord; therefore, he is the head of his wife in a godly manner. As wives, we can seek guidance from our husbands knowing his love for Christ will shine through all of his decisions.
Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves His church – and what did Jesus do? He gave up His life so His church could flourish and grow! Now again, if the Christian husband is paralleled to Christ, he must give up his life for his wife. Verse 5:26 says, “to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s Word.” So, the responsibility of the husband is to live as Christ lived, loving His body (the church), use God’s Word as a way of life to keep his wife holy, clean and washed by the Word of God.
That is Powerful!
So, wives… we are to love and submit to our husbands, just as we love and submit our lives to the Lord. And husbands your lives are to parallel the life of Jesus to love and care for your wives in a godly manner, cleansing her with the Word of God!
Ephesians 5:31-33…
31 “As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”
This chapter has shown us so many ways to live a godly, Christian life. I hope each one of us will take time to consider what changes may need to take place in our lives to measure up to what the Lord desires from us. Let’s remind ourselves once again just a few things this chapter has taught us…
- Imitate God
- Live a life filled with love
- Follow the example of Christ
- Determine what pleases the Lord
- Be careful how you live
- Be filled with the Holy Spirit
- Wives submit to your husbands
- Husbands love your wives
- Let your Light Shine!
~AMEN~