| Reflections on Ephesians |
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Chapter 5
Follow, imitate God. I had a friend years ago when I was teaching in England. He had been injured years before in an accident and as a result he had a peculiar gait, a limp and then some. Late in life he had a son, and I recall one day as he walked across the campus, his little boy was following along behind, imitating his dad’s odd, bowlegged gait. There was nothing wrong with his legs, but he wanted to walk like dad. It was, I thought, the perfect example of “following God as dear children.” But what does it mean to “follow God”? How would one imitate Christ? The answer follows in verses 2 and 3.
It is almost startling how Paul can put his finger squarely on the major problems of the Christian living in the modern world. The two defining characteristics of this age are fornication and covetousness. We are a consumer society, and our children are playing with sex like we used to play kick the can. Of every three babies born into our society these days, one is illegitimate.
Oh, I know it is politically incorrect to stigmatize a child with the word “illegitimate” because it isn’t the child’s fault. But let me make one thing clear, the child is going to suffer for it, no matter what we call it. You can’t take all that away by changing the words.
In warning against uncleanness, Paul is
talking about “filthiness, and foolish talking and jesting.”
Clean up your language, says Paul. Clean up
your conversation. This kind of talk is not becoming to the saints of
God. It's not right for a holy people to talk this way, or to use this
kind of language.
This poses some
interesting theological problems. We all know we are saved by Grace and
not by works. Salvation is a gift of God, Paul told us in the second
chapter, lest any man should boast. Salvation is solely by grace. But then
Paul picks out specific violations of the Ten Commandments and tells us in
no uncertain terms that people who are doing these things are not going to
have any inheritance in the Kingdom of God and of Christ. It is plain that
a man cannot live his life any old way and say,
"Well, I'm not under the law, I'm under grace." That's not going to fly.
The imagery here is
very strong. Paul says that we once “were darkness.” It is not merely that
we were in darkness, but that we were darkness. Now we
are light. And we must walk in the light. That means we live our life
as a child of light. Nothing illustrates this so well as a story a friend
told from his childhood. He had gotten up to go to the bathroom on a very
dark night. But his brother, who bunked with him in the same room, had
moved the furniture that day and he found himself trapped between a
dresser and a bookcase and was fumbling around to find his way. He was
simply lost in the dark. His brother, hearing him struggle, reached up
from the top bunk and turned on the light. Problem solved. When you can
see, everything becomes simple. His brother became light to him.
When Jesus tells us that we are “the light
of the world,” He is talking about the way we live our lives in the middle
of a crooked and perverse generation. They may not follow our Christian
walk, but at least they have a light, a beacon for them to find their way.
Don’t hang out with people who do bad things.
God's wrath is going to come down on a certain
class of people and it's a good idea if I'm not partaker or one of that
class of people
Nowadays we take pictures of what they do in secret and we make movies out of them and put it on television.
This is not that hard. The Bible is full of the will of the Lord, in examples, instructions, illustrations, laws.
Living in this
world, there is no way to avoid pain and hardship, and sometimes people
drink more than they should to deaden the pain or to pass the time. “Don’t
do that,” says Paul. It will not take you anywhere you really want to go.
Rather meditate on hymns and psalms. Perhaps even sing the songs in your
heart and mind when you are in the shower or on the road driving your car.
You will find it does a lot more for that hurtling spirit than going out
and getting drunk. And you won’t have a headache the next morning.
Now if you are a person who marks his Bible, you should mark verse 21. For it is the theme of everything that follows. Submission is not a one way street. The idea of mutual submission seems to be one of the hardest to grasp.
Everything? Well, yes, but not unconditionally. Too many sermons on marriage start here with verse 22 when they should start with verse 21. Because the submission of the wife to the husband is offered as an illustration of the principle of mutual submission--that is, of submitting to one another. Consider the other side of the equation. This is not a one way street. See verse 25. When we consider submission, we have to recall that Jesus submitted Himself to the Father all the way to death for the sake of His bride, the church. Paul calls on a woman to submit to her husband as the husband is called on to submit to his wife. This submission is not a master/servant thing, but submitting oneself to the needs of the other. A husband submits in the sense of being willing to give himself for his wife as Christ gave himself for the church.
Anyone should realize that it is impossible for a
woman to “reverence” a husband who is not treating her right.
And this is the tragedy of marriage after
marriage and in families all over this world of ours. We have not each
learned to shoulder our responsibilities and to submit our own selfish
desires for the sake of the other. No man has a right to demand the
reverence or respect of his woman unless or until he is willing to lay
down his life for her.
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The
Sinless Life
Youth in Action |
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