1. Intro: The Path of Real Growth
1.1. Edify: How do I say this in such a way that doesn’t sound judgmental? How do I say this in such a way ****that won’t come across as an explanation from a rule book? What I want to do is to speak a word that edifies and makes us ask how we can grow in faith and make our lives a blessing to others, and not be an obstacle and hindrance? Paul says much about this as the Christian walk is really a walk in sanctification and a walk to bless others. We don’t want to remain spiritual babes forever because spiritual babes don’t really bless. They are babies and need a lot of time and effort and always get into problems. They don’t want to get out of home base and are content to remain there for the rest of their lives and eat baby food because their mindset is all about self! What we want is more victory over our natural, carnal selves so that we can move on from home base to 1st base and then 2nd and 3rd base.
1.2. Path to Sanctification: So, let’s eyeball the impediments of our carnal nature and recognize that the path of sanctification is an intentional one. It demands a commitment to the disciplined way of life. How we comport ourselves reflects Christ in us and this discipline becomes a source of spiritual strength as what we are doing is to invite the Spirit to shape us. I must stress that these are not a set of rules because rules have no power but this is an invitation for the Spirit to shape us as we recognise that the straight and narrow is the path of inward growth.
1.3. To Sum it Up: "The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules to be obeyed, but rather a description of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is having his unhindered way with us." (Oswald Chambers).
2. Imitate God (5:1)
My ask of you today is not to see Eph 4 and 5 as a list of “Thou shall nots” Instead, see them as a pathway of growth.
The way that God will bless. That means see these 2 chapters as a road for greater enrichment in our lives. You want the Spirit to anoint your life so I invite you to receive and allow Eph 5 to speak to your inmost being and to empower it.
2.1. What did Paul Mean? The people who divided the bible into chapters and verses decided to start a new chapter at this part of the writing. The “therefore” refers to the words preceding, the reminder to be “kind to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another” (4:32). So, with all that as a build up, what we recognize the words of “be imitators of God” (5:1) as an invitation. At first glance, this is impossible. How can we even think of imitating God’s glory? How can we hope to imitate God? What was Paul thinking of when he asked them to imitate God? What did he mean?
2.2. Reclaim our Lost Heritage: Whenever we have questions of what we humans are comprised of, and what separates us from the animal kingdom, it is the principle of us being created in the image of God. A part of this was broken by the Fall in the Garden but it was not destroyed. What spiritual regeneration does is it revives our Godly senses of holiness, goodness, love, mercy, justice, tenderness, longsuffering, loving kindness, and forgiveness. We are a restored people, restored and reconciled just as the prodigal son was restored, given the new gown and reconciled with his father. God delights in His children. For those of us who are parents, do you not remember the time when your parents took delight in you and were proud of you? A big part of the riches of Christ is the restoration of those qualities that were there at creation but went into hiding by the Fall but are now gradually being restored by regeneration and sanctification; and the best part is that we get restored into a family.
3. Restored in Love (5:2)
3.1. Christ Loves: we are not going to find another faith or philosophy that captures the God-human relationship as acutely. John wrote: “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16). The love that is given so freely needs to be received. Think of the Prodigal Son returning home and ask what if the Father was indifferent to his return? Or if you have been away from home for a long time and you return and your dad just stares at you with something like “so, you are back?” When Jesus tells the story, he is specific:
“when he was a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him” (Lk 15:20).
3.2. Love Leads (5:2): I think I need to spend a bit more time on the vs 1-2 before we go to what gives problems to our sanctification.
If the relationship is not based on love then it’ll be all rules and regulations.
That means we follow because of a command but if it comes from the heart of love, then this God empowers. I watch some clips of rescued animals. These are bears or even bobcats that are abandoned or orphaned and some human picks them up and rescues them from sure death by freezing or starvation or predation by other animals. The baby animal forms an attachment to the human rescuer and treats that person as a parent. Children automatically have a love bond with their parent; and a love bond is an empowering bond. So, what Paul writes here is for this emotion to empower their “doing” or walking. The rescue here is from God’s love taken to the nth degree. We are the rescued ones. We have been saved by a fate that is worse than death. Jesus offered himself as that sacrifice. And we return love naturally.
4. The Works of the Flesh (5:3-5)
4.1. The Church is Not a Moral Agency: That means morality is not the chief aim of our vision or reason for existence. In the old days there were societies that were formed to curb excesses such as temperance clubs. These are good things but that is not what we are here for. What the Gospel does is far more life- changing than a rule. Christian morality is a by-product, not the reason for our being. We are saying the Gospel has power to bring real change and that that empowers us to avoid those works of carnality listed: impurity, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talk, crude joking. In Galatians he expands it into idolatry, sorcery, fits of anger and so on. Most of us recognize these traits and they are not far from us and if not careful, they easily return.
4.2. The Purity of the Regenerate Soul: happens when the Spirit is allowed to have his way with us. It is a disciplined attitude towards life with an awareness that we are the temple of the Spirit and therefore, not just acts but thoughts, desires, and speech have to be weighed. Are we a blessing to others or an impediment to someone else’s sanctification? A few words from Oswald Chambers: