The Book of Ephesians

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There are few places in the world that I enjoy more perhaps none than London, England. If you've had the chance to visit there you know there are a few sites you have to see. You have to see Westminster Abbey. For me, I have to see Bunhill Fields which is not that widely known to many people but it's the cemetery where all the non-conformist pastors are buried including the great John Owen and others. You also have to see the British Museum. It's been my opportunity to be there on a couple of occasions. The first time, by the way the British Museum is huge, there's some seven million objects of history in the British Museum. The first time I visited there I only had a small window of time and so literally I think I spent less than an hour and a half trying to see the British Museum. You talk about drinking from a fire hose. I was kind of in a dead run through the British Museum. I'm not sure you can really truly say you've seen the British Museum when you've only been there an hour.

I feel the same this morning as we come to the Book of Ephesians one last time and my intention is to cover the entire letter with you in the time we have to study together. To sort of take a fly over at 30,000 feet and to some extent I'm not sure we can say we've been to Ephesians only spending that short of time here. But I think there's value to it and I want to do it this morning, to sort of recap all that we've learned over the last three and a half years as we've worked our way through this letter.

Paul's letter to the Ephesians rivals Romans as the greatest of his writings. It plumbs the depths of the absolute deepest theology and at the same time it contains some of the most practical counsel and instruction of anywhere in the New Testament. One author called it the "Grand Canyon of Scripture" because it literally takes your breath away and you simply cannot take it all in. Paul founded the church in Ephesus on his second missionary journey sometime around AD 51. On his third missionary journey he returned to Ephesus and stayed for almost three years ministering to the people there. That was from the fall of about 52 to the summer of AD 55, if we've reconstructed his life correctly. About 6 years after his three years stay there, Paul wrote them this letter. Ephesians is one of four letters we call the "Prison Epistles" because they were written from Paul's Roman imprisonment, his first Roman imprisonment. This letter was probably written near the end of that first imprisonment about AD 62 from, as Acts describes it, at the end of the book of Acts, from his own rented quarters where he was chained to a Roman guard and yet people had access and could come, and he was able to teach them. He wrote this letter, dictated it probably to Tychicus, whom we met a couple of weeks ago, and sent it with him to be read in the church in Ephesus. Not only to the church in Ephesus, but it was probably also intended as a kind of circular letter to the other churches in that region.

We need to begin our study this morning by asking the basic question: What is this letter really about? What is its primary message? I began our study of Ephesians, back now more than three years ago, laying out that theme and the three and one-half years study we've had together has only confirmed it. The theme of Paul's letter to the Ephesians is this: God's eternal plan. God's eternal plan. More specifically we could say God's eternal plan of redemption. Because in this monumental letter, the omniscient, omnipotent God makes it clear that however random human history may look, He has a plan. A plan He determined in eternity past, a perfect plan, a plan from which He has never once deviated or wavered. A plan that to this day He is relentlessly working out in human history. And it is a plan that will, in His time, come to perfect completion.

In chapters 1 through 3 of this letter, Paul explains that eternal plan. In chapters 4 through 6, he applies that plan to our lives and to our experience. There are various ways that these two sections, chapters 1 through 3 and chapters 4 through 6 have been contrasted. Some would say that chapters 1 through 3 are about our position. Chapters 4 through 6 about our practice. Some would say 1 through 3 are about proclamation. Chapters 4 through 6 application. Chapters 1 through 3 about theology. Chapters 4 through 6 about ethics. Chapters 1 through 3 are indicative, that is, they make statements about what is true. Chapters 4 through 6 are imperative. They are literally filled with strings and strings of imperatives.

Doctrine. Practice. What we learn from that simple construction, and it's a very important lesson, frankly, that the church today needs to learn is that all true Christian living or practice must be based on an accurate understanding of biblical doctrine. On your way here this morning, you drove past countless churches who, frankly, have forgotten this basic principle. They jump straight to the how to's, the relationships, and how you can improve your marriage and how you can improve your work and all of those things, which have value, but they skip the doctrinal foundation on which those things should be built. And without that foundation, eventually the house crumbles. So, with that basic introduction to the letter, let's begin to work our way through. Put on your seat belt. Here we go. Six chapters in the next few minutes.

First of all, chapters 1 through 3, of course, is where we need to begin where God's eternal plan is explained. After the initial greeting in the first two verses, he begins the letter with a doxology of praise that begins in verse 3 and runs down through verse 14. The theme of this long sentence in the Greek text is that God is worthy of all of our praise, of all of our thanksgiving because of what He has done for us in Christ. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." But in this doxology Paul does more than express his thanksgiving and praise to God. In this doxology he explains the role of each member of the Trinity in carrying out the great eternal plan of redemption. In verses 4 through 6 you see the role of the Father. And these aren't the only ways that members of the Trinity were involved in our salvation. They're simply the ways that Paul is highlighting here. But notice in verse 4 the primary work of the Father in redemption that he highlights is "He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world." The Father's role in this eternal plan was sovereign election in eternity past. The Father chose us. He determined on whom He would set His love and He did so before the foundation of the world, that is, as Paul argues in Romans 9, before anybody lived, before they had done anything good or bad, He chose completely apart from anything in us. God didn't look down the corridors of time and see that we would be basically good people or that we would choose to believe. None of that. It was before anything had happened and it was based solely on His own sovereign choice. God set His love on you because of Who He is and because He loved you. That's the only explanation, just as it was for the children of Israel. That's the Father's role and He did so, verse 4 says, so that "we would be holy and blameless" and He wanted us, verse 5, to be adopted as His children. He set His love on us to make us His own children.

The Son's role comes in verses 7 through 12 and, of course, at its heart, verse 7, Christ is the One Who carried out the plan, Who purchased the forgiveness of our sins, verse 7 says, "Through His blood." That is, by His death. He is the One Who carried out this great eternal plan of redemption by sacrificing Himself. But verses 8 through 10 go on to say that Christ also teaches us God's will. He not only was the Sacrifice for sin, He becomes our Teacher. And specifically in verses 9 and 10 he teaches us God's secret and that is, He's going to make Christ the goal of everything. Everything is going to be summed up in Christ. He will be the Lord of everything, the Restorer of everything, the goal of all existence and He teaches us God's will. Verses 11 and 12 says, Christ guarantees our inheritance. Christ, by His very presence and the Father's presence this morning, guarantees that we will one day be there.

Verses 13 and 14 give us the role of the Spirit and in a word it's "sealing us." Sealing us. You see the Spirit is the One by Whom the blessings of the eternal plan of redemption becomes ours. It was the Spirit Who convicted you of sin. It was the Spirit who brought new life to you. It was the Spirit who gave you repentance and faith to believe and to repent. It was the Spirit Who continues the work of sanctification in your life. He applies this eternal plan to us personally. But notice verse 14 says, He was "a pledge of our inheritance." I love that. That word speaks of a down payment. When we go to buy property, we're asked to come with a portion of the total price as a down payment. Why do we have to put a down payment on a house or on something else? It is a good faith gesture that we intend to pay the rest of the money. When God placed His heart, His Spirit rather, in the heart of every Christian it was proof of God's commitment to give us the rest of everything He promised. It was the down payment. The Spirit is the down payment from God on our inheritance. There you have the roles of the members of the Trinity in the great plan. The Father set the plan and chose us. The Son carried out the plan in time by His death. And the Spirit applies that plan to our own lives and hearts—seals us for eternal future.

Right out of that in verse 15 Paul prays and, in this section, beginning in verse 15 and running through the end of chapter 1, you see the strategic importance of understanding God's plan. Paul prays, notice in verse 18, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know" you will experientially come to understand the hope that's yours because He called you in the effectual call. That you are God's inheritance. He sees you as His prize possession. And that you will come to understand what is the surpassing greatness of the power of God that's at work in you. To change you. To make you different. You see what Paul's doing? He's saying God has a plan and there's nothing more important than for you to really understand that plan. And so, I'm praying that your eyes will really get it. That you'll really understand it. I'll come back to that section but let me move on.

We come to chapter 2. He's still unfolding this great eternal plan of God. The first 10 verses of chapter 2 are the individual application of God's plan. He gets very personal. He explains how God's plan, this great sweeping plan of redemption intersected your life and my life. Notice in verses 1 through 3 of chapter 2, he starts with what we were. We were dead in our rebellion and in our sin against God. We had no spiritual life, no capacity to respond to God. In fact, he goes on to say we were in lockstep with all of God's enemies. We were in lockstep with the god of this age, Satan himself. We were in lockstep with our own flesh. We were in lockstep with the world's system that Satan had created. It was all controlling us, but the worst part comes at the end of verse 3 where he says we "were by nature children of wrath." We were sons of wrath, that's a Hebrew expression. It means we were so certain to experience God's wrath against our sin it's as if we were the children of wrath. We could be called wrath. It was coming. Verse 4, "but God." I love those words. I preached a whole sermon on this when we were going through the book of Ephesians because that's the turning point isn't it? This is who we were. This is what we looked like. This was our condition—but God. Paul wants us to know that salvation is from the beginning to end a work of God. In a very real sense, you had nothing to do with your salvation. Even the faith and repentance that you exercised were a gift of God, Paul says down in verses 8 and 9. Salvation was God intervening when we were dead to Him and could not respond but God made us alive. He likens our regeneration, He likens our salvation to a resurrection; and the dead person can have no contribution to his resurrection. Why did God do this? Well verses 7 through 10 he explains in verse 7 to put His glory on display for all of eternity. God acted like this: God saved us by His own initiative, by His own power, without our contribution, so that He could put His glory on display for all of eternity. In the coming ages He will show us kindness in Christ Jesus. He'll put His grace on display.

Verses 8 and 9, verses we quote often, in their context are not so much a theological statement, although they are that, but verses 8 and 9 are saying God declared us righteous on the basis of faith alone. Why? Notice the end of verse 9, "so that" here's why it's all of God "so that no man, no one may boast." God brings salvation in such a way so that no human being will ever stand before Him and be able to boast of anything. And if your salvation, if what you think is salvation, you can take the smallest bit of credit for, it's not God's salvation. Because God acts in salvation in such a way so that no human being can ever stand before Him and boast about anything. It's all God. It's all a gift of His grace. Verse 10 says He saved us like this to ensure good works. "We were created in Christ Jesus for and unto good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." God did this so that we would be a permanent eternal reflection of the goodness of His Son. That's the individual application of God's plan and if you're a Christian this is your story. I love this section because it's my story. It's your story.

In the next section, the rest of chapter 2, beginning in verse 11 running all the way down to verse 22, we have the corporate application of God's plan. The corporate application of God's plan. You see verses 1 through 10 is intensely personal. As individual sinners we've been saved by God from the penalty of sin but this next section, verses 11 through 22, is corporate. Christ's work not only involved our individual salvation, but it also involved bringing each individual into unity with the rest of God's people regardless of their race or background. We could say this theme of the second half of the rest of chapter 2 is that all Christians are united to God and to each other in the church through the work of Jesus Christ. You can summarize these verses with one very important biblical word. It's found in verse 16: Reconcile. The concept of reconciliation permeates this entire paragraph. What's the opposite of reconciliation? Why do you need

reconciliation? Because there's hostility and alienation and enmity. All of those are part of life in a fallen world. There is alienation and hostility horizontally between people. And there's also alienation and hostility between us and God. We needed to be reconciled to each other and to God. The wonderful thing about what Christ has done, Paul says here, is that His work brings reconciliation. It brings peace. In fact, notice in verse 14 Christ Himself is our peace. In Him we've experienced reconciliation. And in verses 11 through 15 we've experienced it horizontally between everybody else in the church, Jew and Gentile in that case who were sitting there listening to this letter being read, they were once enemies. They had been reconciled to each other in the church through the work of Christ. We all sit here this morning, we're quite different. We come from different backgrounds, different socio-economic classes, etc. etc. and yet we have been reconciled to each other through Christ Who is our peace. And he goes on to say in verses 16 to 18, we've been reconciled to God. All of us have experienced reconciliation to God if you're in Christ. That's true of you.

Now because Christ has made peace between us and God and between all of us together, Paul uses three images to conclude this chapter that picture that peace that's been bought, that reconciliation. Notice in verse 19 he says we are now fellow citizens of Christ's kingdom. We have a new relationship to Christ, He's our king, we've been reconciled to him, no longer are we rebelling but He's our King and we are fellow citizens with each other. We're also, verse 19 goes on to say, "fellow members of God's household" or God's family. Now, God is our Father; we've been reconciled to Him and because we've been reconciled to Him, we've been reconciled to each other. We're like brothers and sisters in a family.

And the last image he uses in verses 20-22 is that we're like fellow stones in God's temple. And you say, why does he go from the warmth of family to some cold image like stones in a temple? Well think about it. There are plenty of families that are divided, right? There are brothers and sisters who don't get along, who don't talk to each other. Shouldn't be true of any Christian. Should do everything to be at peace with all men, Paul says. But it can happen, nonetheless. But it can never happen with stones in a temple. Or it ceases to be a temple. They're inherently joined to one another, and he says that's how we are. And now we are a building, not this building we meet in, but we as the church, the people of the church, we are like a building and not just any building, we're like a temple. We are like the spiritual Holy of Holies where God Himself resides. Wow! What reconciliation Christ has brought.

Now having introduced the concept of the church in this section, back in in chapter 2 verse 15, he mentions the Jew and Gentiles have been combined in one new man. What is that? That's the church. This new creation called the church having introduced that concept in Chapter 3, he really drives it home. And in fact, in chapter 3 verses 1 through 12, Paul teaches us the priority of the church in God's plan. The priority of the church in God's plan, he begins in verses 1 through 3 of chapter 3 by saying he has been made a steward. He's a steward of a mystery. Now get the English word "mystery" out of your mind, although it comes from this Greek word, it has nothing to do in meaning, with this Greek word. Forget what you know about the English word "mystery." In the biblical terms, a "mystery" is something that was previously unknown and that was undiscoverable, unknowable. But now God has revealed it to us. So, it's not a mystery anymore. Ok? A mystery in biblical terms isn't a mystery. It's something that was a mystery but now has been revealed. Now, what is this secret, this mystery Paul has been made a steward of through revelation? Look down in verse 8 of chapter 3, "To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles, the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery," a mystery that in ages past was hidden in God. What's the mystery? Well, the key to unlocking this section comes in verse 11, "This was in accordance," whatever the mystery is was in accordance with, notice that phrase "eternal purpose." Literally the Greek text, your marginal note, has this there in the NAS "the plan of the ages." It was the plan of the ages and notice that at the heart of this plan of the ages is Jesus Christ. Verse 11 says, "the eternal [plan of the ages] which He carried out in Jesus Christ our Lord." At the epicenter of God's plan of the ages is the supreme exaltation of His Son. But how does He do that? How is God exalting His Son? Look back in verse 10. "God is making His "manifold wisdom" that is, the multicolored splendor of His wisdom known. How? How is God putting His wisdom on display? Notice verse 10 says, "through the church." That's the mystery. Used to be hidden. Nobody knew about the church in the Old Testament. Nobody knew what God was going to do in Christ—baptize us in the body of Christ and bring about the church. Paul was made a steward of that and now it's clear, it's revealed. Understand this: God is putting Himself on display in the church. Look around you. Look around you at the people here in this room. The church. The church universal; the church local; churches like Countryside Bible Church is the theater in which God is putting His wisdom on display. And not just for us to see, not just even for other humans to see, but according to this passage, notice in verse 10 the end of the passage, the end of the verse there, even for powerful angelic beings to see. The church is the center of God's eternal plan. Now can I just say if the church is the center of God's eternal plan, if it's the stage in the world on which He's putting Himself on display, shouldn't it be the center of our lives as well? Let me just ask you this morning: If the church is the center of God's great eternal plan is it the center of your life really?

Now Paul ends this section. He finishes the doctrinal section of the letter, first three chapters. Beginning in chapter 3 verse 13 down through the end of chapter 3, with another prayer. It's another prayer that we would really understand the plan. That we would really get it. Because he specifically says notice down in verse 16, I'm praying that God "would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man," that Christ would be at home "in your hearts through faith," and that you would understand something of the magnitude of the grace of God and the love of God in Christ. And in verse 20 he ends by saying and God's able to do that. God "is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think."

So, that brings us to the second part of this great letter. We've seen God's eternal plan explained. Now let's look at God's great eternal plan applied. That comes in chapters 4 through 6. God's eternal plan applied. Verse 1 of chapter 4 is a turning point. Before this verse there's only one imperative one command, that's in chapter 2 verse 11 "Remember." After this verse there are literally strings of imperatives. The key word is the word "therefore." "Therefore" because you see this verse, verse 1 of chapter 4 is a topic sentence. Not only for the rest of the paragraph it begins but also for the rest of the letter. Ephesians 4:1 gives us the general imperative that flows out of the first three chapters. Because of all that you have in Christ, because of your new position therefore do this. And then chapters 4 through 6 gives us the specific imperatives that flow out of the first three chapters. So really verse 1 is kind of a hinge between chapters 1 and 3 and chapters 4 to 6. Between our position in Christ and our practice. Between our knowing Gods' great eternal plan and our living out the implications of God's plan in our lives. So, beginning in chapter 4 and running through the end of the book, Paul reminds us of the implications of our incredible position in Christ. Notice verse 1, "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called." "Walk" is a metaphor for living out daily life. Step by step. You walk step by step one foot after the other. It is a metaphor for living in the daily issues of life. He says I want you to live your daily life in a way that's worthy of what I've just described to you as your new position in Christ. How? How can we live worthy? How can we walk worthy of that new position?

Well, as chapters 4 through 6 unfold, Paul explains how. There are several ways we can walk worthy. If we're going to walk worthy, first of all, we must walk in unity. That's where Paul begins, remember back in chapter 2 he said we've been reconciled, united to each other. Well, it's important to God that we live that out. Notice verse 3 of chapter 4. This is really the core of the paragraph—the paragraph being chapter 4 verse 2 down through verse 16. The core is verse 3, "being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." You see there is already this very real unity. The Spirit created it at the moment we became Christians and now it's our responsibility to preserve that unity. We don't create unity—we preserve the unity the Spirit created. How do we do that? Well, in verses 2 through, 16 Paul gives us the means for preserving unity. In verse 2 he says it starts with having the right attitudes. Putting on the attitudes of unity. Notice verse 2: we're to have humility. Listen, pride creates what? Contention. Humility creates unity; gentleness—that's how we interact with each other; patience—that's how we respond to the sins of others; tolerance for one another in love—that's how we respond to the foibles and weaknesses of others. We have to have these attitudes if there's going to be unity.

Then he says, focus on the basis of our unity. And in verses 4 through 6 he has this staccato list: one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. What's that about? He's saying those are what we share in common. Those are the things that unite us, the spiritual realities that unite us. We share a common life: one body. We share a common source that brought us life: one spirit. We share a common future: one hope. We share a common Master: one Lord. We share a common body of belief: one faith. And we share a common God and Father Who is over all and through all and in all. He also adds there in verse 6 "one baptism." That is, we share a common confession. In the New Testament times when a person was baptized, they confessed Jesus as Lord. That was the basic confession. It's why you have it in 1 Corinthians 12 and other places—Jesus is Lord. We share a common confession. Those realities unite us to every other true Christian and Paul listed them here as a reminder that that's the basis of our unity and to encourage us to preserve that unity.

There's one more means for preserving unity. It's the rest of this paragraph chapter 4 verse 7 through 16 and it's this: Follow Christ's plan for the church. You want to have unity in the church? Follow Christ's plan for the church. What's that plan? Well, in verses 7 through 10 Christ gave spiritual gifts, notice verse 7, "to each one of us." Verse 11, then Christ gave gifted men to the church. So, spiritual gifts to every one of us; gifted men to the church. Verse 12, Christ's plan is for those gifted men to equip the saints who have now been each given a spiritual gift to do the work of service. My job, the job of the elders here, is to equip you to use the gift you've been given by teaching you so that the goal is attained. What's the goal? Look in verse 13: Christlikeness. We all attain to the full measure of the stature of Jesus Christ. In other words, verses 14 and 15, we're to grow up. We're to grow up from being spiritual children who are easily carried here and there by every wind of doctrine and that growth happens in two related ways. Notice verse 15 the leaders are to speak the truth in love. In other words, we are to teach the Bible. And in verse 16, as every member of the body does his or her part, the entire body grows. That's how the body grows and when that happens, Paul says, it preserves unity in the church. So, we walk worthy of our calling, first of all, by walking in unity.

Secondly, we walk worthy of our calling when we walk in sanctification. When we walk in new life. This is chapter 4 verses 17 to 24. In verses 17 to 19 he describes how we used to live; how pagans live. And then in verse 20 he says, you've had a radical change though. You're not like that anymore so don't live like that. You have learned Christ. That is, you heard Jesus through His Word, through the words of the apostles and you have been taught in Him. That's ongoing instruction in His Word. What have we been taught? Well, in the Greek text "we have been taught" is followed by three infinitives: the first one is in verse 22, "lay aside." The second one is in verse 23, "be renewed." And the third is in verse 24, "put on." That's what we've been taught. To lay aside, be renewed and put on. What does that mean? Well, look back at verse 22. We're to "lay aside the old self." Paul's point is your old self, the person you used to be before Christ, is dead so put off the clothes he wore. Stop acting like you're that old person. Lay aside all that remains of the old life: it's thinking, it's sinful habits of thinking and acting. Verse 23 and then "be renewed in the spirit of your mind." Allow the Spirit of God to change your thinking. How you think, the grid through which you see life. How does that happen? Through the Word. You remember Christ's prayer in John 17? John 17:17 "Sanctify them by the truth. Your Word is truth." That's what the Spirit uses to change our minds to renew our minds. And then verse 24 says we're to put on the new self. This is the process of sanctification. Put off those old things connected to who we used to be; let the Spirit use the Word to change our thinking and then put on the new ways of thinking and behaving. As we put off the old thinking and behaviors, as we allow the Spirit to renew the way we think with the Scripture, we need to begin to practice new patterns of thinking and acting. Patterns that are in keeping with the new person we've become in Christ. You know Paul's point here? In this section is don't claim to be a Christian and live like you're the old person you used to be. They are incongruous. It's inconsistent with how you learned Christ. It's unthinkable. It's unimaginable. Walk in sanctification. Walk in new life. In the process of sanctification.

Thirdly, if we're going to walk worthy we have to walk in love. This section begins in chapter 4 verse 25 and runs down through chapter 5 verse 2, "walk in love." The key to this paragraph comes at the end of this paragraph. Notice chapter 5 verses 1 and 2, "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you." You want to walk in a way that's worthy of your new position in Christ then we must imitate our Father and live a life defined by genuine love for others. You say, "Well what does that look like?" Well, go back to chapter 4 verse 25 because in this paragraph he begins this paragraph with several illustrations or examples of how to imitate God by walking in love. Verse 25: don't lie instead speak the truth. Verses 26 to 27: don't get angry. Instead resolve your conflicts. Verse 28: don't steal instead work hard and be generous with others like your Father is generous with others. Verses 29 and 30: don't tear down with your words, instead build others up with your words. Verses 31 and 32: don't harbor sinful attitudes and actions like yelling and anger and malice and hatred; instead, be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving. We are to walk in love like our Father loves. The reality of our relationship to the Father is shown in how we treat the rest of the children.

There's a fourth way to walk worthy. It's found in chapter 5 verses 3 through 14: walk in sexual purity. Walk in sexual purity. Notice verse 3 Paul identifies six sexual sins in verses 3 and 4. The two words "immorality" and "impurity" in those two words Paul forbids any sexual actions except the honorable enjoyment of a sexual relationship in marriage. Any other sexual action is forbidden by those two words. Then he gets to sexual sins of thoughts. Verse 3 Covetousness. Here the idea is that all sexual desire to have someone other than your spouse: lust. Then in verse 4 he gets to sexual sins of speech: filthiness, that refers to that which is obscene. Silly talk refers to crude sexual humor and jokes. Coarse jesting refers to more sophisticated sexual innuendo and double entendre. Those are the six sins sexual sins Paul points out and notice what he commands us about those sins. He gives us in the command God's standard of purity verse 3 "they must not even be named among you." As the NIV says, "not even a hint." Listen, if we're going to overcome sexual sin in our lives, we have to adopt God's standard. It's not ok to say well I'm going to get rid of this really heinous stuff over here but I'm still going to keep this, that will be ok. No. The only way to get rid of sexual sin is to pursue absolute purity, not even a hint. Paul then explains the means of sexual purity. How do you pursue sexual purity? There are a number revealed in Scripture and I dealt with them when I worked through this passage. Here there is only one. Notice verse 4 at the end of the verse he adds, in place of the six sexual sins of action thought and speech but rather I want you to develop a habit of thanksgiving. You say that's it? That's the help? Absolutely. Think about this. What is the opposite of craving what you don't have? Of lusting after what you don't have? It's being thankful for what you do.

Paul in the rest of this paragraph helps us understand why sexual purity is so important. He gives us motives for pursuing sexual purity. The first motive comes in verse 5. It's because a life of sexual sin excludes from God's kingdom. Notice verse 5, "for this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous" and again in this context a lustful "man, who is an idolator, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God." If your life is characterized by—that's the key expression—by these sexual sins Paul says you are not a part of God's kingdom. There's a second motivation in verse 6: a life of sexual sin guarantees God's judgement. "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." In verses 7 through 10 he says sexual sin is in conflict with our new nature. In fact, it's as contrary as light and darkness. And then in verses 11 through 14 he says sexual sin undermines our mission. We're here to see others come to faith in Christ and a life of sexual purity strengthens our message, empowers our mission and validates our witness.

That brings us to a fifth way to walk worthy: walk in biblical wisdom. Look at chapter 5. By the way, this section is the longest in the book. It runs from chapter 5 verse 15 all the way through chapter 6 verse 9. Walk in biblical wisdom. Look at chapter 5 verse 15, "Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise." Pursue wisdom and do this earnestly. Verse 16, pursue every opportunity, make the most of your opportunities to do this. Verse 17, "Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." And here he's not talking about your career. You know, what career you should have or what car you should drive. He's talking about the will of the Lord contained in the Bible: Pursue biblical wisdom. That's what he's saying. Verse 18, we can't do this on our own. We need the Spirit's help. This is where Paul has been driving in this passage is towards verse 18. To walk in biblical wisdom, we have to be filled by the Spirit. You say what does that look like? Well, look at the first part of verse 18. It looks like someone being drunk with wine. In other words, we are filled in the sense of being under the influence of the Spirit. That's what he means. Just like a drunk person is under the influence of alcohol a person who's filled by the Spirit is under the influence of something else. Who does the filling? The Spirit does. We are filled by the Spirit, by the work of the Spirit. What actually does the Spirit fill us with? You know most people read this verse and, I used to for many years, and think that we were to be filled by the content of the Spirit. In other words, we were to be full of the Holy Spirit. Well, if you are a Christian, you are already full of the Holy Spirit. That's not what he's saying. That's not what this text says. We're to be filled by the Spirit but it doesn't tell us with what. The key to finding that out is in the parallel text. It's in Colossians. If you compare Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 you will discover they're identical with one exception—how they begin. In Ephesians 5:18 the list begins with "be filled by the Spirit" and in Colossians 3 it begins "let the words of Christ dwell in you richly." That means those two concepts produce exactly the same results. They are equivalent. To be filled by the spirit is the same thing as letting the Word of Christ dwell richly within you. Let me sum it up: being filled by the Spirit means the Spirit causes the Word of God to permeate and direct and control your thinking and your actions. When that happens, certain things happen. There are consequences, there are results of being under the influence of the Spirit and the Word. What are those results? They're found in verses 19 through 21. They will be verse 19: a love for God centered music. When the Spirit fills you with the Word you will love God centered music. You will love singing like we did this morning. Verse 20: you will have a pattern of thankfulness. And verse 21: you will have a heart of submission to human authorities. The Greek word for submitting in verse 21 means to submit to a person in authority; to acknowledge their rightful authority and to put yourself under their authority. So, when you allow the Spirit to bring you under the influence of the Word you will not only have a love for God centered music, not only manifest a pattern of thankfulness but you will also submit to the human authorities in your life and Paul gives three examples in the verses that follow.

The rest of chapter 5 he talks about wives submitting to their husbands. The beginning of chapter 6 verses 1 to 4 he talks about children submitting to their parents and then in chapter 6 verses 5 to 9 he talks about servants submitting to their masters. In all those examples, he also speaks to the one in authority. Husbands are to love their wives, parents are not to exasperate their children, masters are not to threaten those under their care. But the point of the passage is that a person who is filled by the Spirit with the Word of God who is under the influence of the Bible will submit to and respect human authority. That's the end of the heart of the letter. Because chapter 6 verses 10 to 21 is really Paul's conclusion. And in his conclusion Paul reminds us that as we try to live this out in the world, guess what? We don't do it without opposition, even supernatural opposition. Verse 11, Satan is out to destroy our souls. We are engaged in a spiritual war, verse 12, he brings in his own demonic forces. How can we stand against such an enemy? Verse 10: only in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Only in Christ's own strength and how do we get Christ's strength? By putting on His own armor. What's the armor? The armor is not something we do. The armor is a deeper understanding of the gospel and its application to our lives. We put on the gospel as it were, and it protects us from Satan as we try to walk through this world in a way that's worthy of our calling. Paul ends the armor by adding prayer. We're to add the armor pieces that application of the gospel to us with prayer, verses 18 to 20. And then he concludes, we saw this a couple of weeks ago, verses 21 to 24 with some personal notes.

Now, let me wrap this up by giving you some application very quickly. How do you apply Paul's letter to the Ephesians? Number 1: Study biblical doctrine. Study biblical doctrine. It is the only foundation for Christian living, for spiritual growth. Don't you dare skip to the last three chapters and skip over the first three because there's nothing to do there. You can't do until you know. Number 2: Pray for spiritual illumination. Remember those two long prayers in the first half of this letter? Those aren't just wasted words. Paul's saying, you better pray as I'm praying for you, you better pray that God will turn on the light. That you'll understand and I don't mean just to have a passing idea of what it means. Illumination is when God grips your heart with the truth and the truth begins to change you. Pray that God would do that. Number 3: Purpose by God's grace to walk worthy. To walk in unity, in sanctification, in love, in sexual purity and in biblical wisdom. Number 4 and this is key: Don't ever forget that your life is part of God's great eternal plan. You see, we live our lives, and it's like we have blinders on. It's like, you know, what really matters is my career and, you know, where I live and what I'm going do next weekend. Listen, that isn't what your life is about. Your life is part of the sweep of God's great eternal plan. Live in keeping with that. You know what, I had a chance to get away a couple of days just before the Shepherd's Conference began and I was reading a book that really a passage jumped out at me from Paul's sermon in Acts 13. Mark this. Look it up. Meditate on this. Acts 13:36. Paul just throws out a little nugget. He's really talking about and defending the resurrection of Christ. But he says this about David, this is your life. Listen carefully. He said, "After David served God's purpose in his generation, he fell asleep." That's the story of your life and mine That's why we're here. We're not here to pursue our own selfishness, to pursue our own lives and what we want. We are here in this brief span of time we call our lives in this world to serve the purpose of God in our generation. And then when we've served that purpose in God's time and purpose, we will fall asleep and awake in His presence. Don't ever forget you are part of that plan. That's why you're here and no other reason. Let's pray together.

Father, thank You for Your great eternal plan. Thank You for this magnificent letter that lets us in on it, that teaches us what You have intended from eternity past to do. Father, help us to understand it; we pray for illumination. We pray that we would have more than a passing understanding but a deep abiding understanding of the truth that changes us. And then Father, help us by Your grace to walk in a way that's worthy even as You've outlined in this letter. To walk worthy of what we understand. Father, I pray for the person here this morning who's still living in the early verses of Ephesians 2, who's still dead to You. Dead in their rebellion and sin, in lockstep with their own flesh and with the devil and with the world around them. Anticipating only Your wrath. Father, may this be the day when they throw themselves on their faces before You and plead for Your mercy for You to give them the life for Your glory for Your sake. Father, help us to remember as we live life here that it's not about us; that we live to serve Your purpose in our own generation until Your time is done. Father, I pray that You'd help us to live in light of Your eternal plan. For the glory of Your Son in Whom everything will be summed up we pray. Amen.