In this episode, we continue Series 2 looking through Paul’s teaching in the second half of Ephesians, in our Collection on Ephesians.

Recap and Background

In the second series, Paul is being very practical about church life and very down to earth and honest about some difficult issues in terms of people’s personal behaviour. We started at Ephesians 4, by looking at church leadership - apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Then Paul turned his attention to individual Christian discipleship and behaviour.

Paul’s concern was the risk in the early churches of people joining the Christian community for personal benefit rather than because of a fundamental belief in Jesus, and therefore not having a changed lifestyle. It is very easy in any culture for people to feel that to join the church would be a personal benefit to them - they might feel that the church helps the poor and they are poor; they might feel that it gives them community and they are lonely; they might feel that it honours women and, as women, they have had a hard time in their families and their local community; and people might feel that they are foreigners, and they want a place of belonging - they don’t really feel they belong in that particular community - and the church provides a great place to be told that you are a brother or a sister. There are many reasons why people might join the church, for their own benefit.

Jesus’ Parable of the Sower

Paul’s concerns were the same that Jesus articulated at an earlier stage. I am going to start this episode by reflecting on Jesus’ teaching in the Parable of the Sower, which is recorded in Mark 4 and in other Gospel passages. In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus spoke about a farmer who sowed the seed in his field in many different parts of the field. Some of the seed fell on the pathway to the side of the field, and some on soil filled with rocks and stones. The other seed fell into the good soil, but some of it had weeds, and some of it did not. Jesus said, the seeds that were sown on the pathway will be eaten by the birds. The seed that was sown on the rocky soil will germinate and come to life, but very shortly after die, because it did not have any roots. This reflects people who respond to the gospel message in some way, but they don’t really have any roots; they respond at a superficial level and so that plant dies away. When there are difficult times or persecution that person will disappear. Other people are described as being those seeds that are planted in the soil, but there are lots of weeds around. The weeds, as Jesus explained, represented the temptations of wealth, busyness, family and reputation that keep you so busy, and so preoccupied that you are not preoccupied with your faith. Then some of the seed falls on the good soil, and it multiplies 30, 60 or 100 times.

Jesus told that story many years before Paul was writing here but he pointed out that some people who enter the church community and profess faith are not totally sincere, and are perhaps entering it for reasons of personal benefit rather than true repentance. That is one of the main messages of the Parable of the Sower. Paul was concerned about the same thing. He wanted to see people in churches have their lives totally changed, and the last episode introduced this theme to us. He told us that Christians need to take off their old behaviour - like you take off some old dirty clothes - and put on some new clothes, the new clothes of faith and godly living.

What Would Jesus Do?

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children, and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore, do not be partners with them.”

Ephesians 5:1-7, NIV

In the last chapter, Paul told us about the Holy Spirit who lives in us, and who we must not grieve by our behaviour when we are Christians. Now he introduces another idea, and that is to imitate Jesus. When you are living your Christian life, think about the person of Jesus and his lifestyle and his character. This is a helpful way of guiding us to know what the right thing to do is, in any situation. In the 1990s in the USA, a youth leader invented a wristband to put around the wrist of teenagers in a youth group. This became very popular. This wristband had the four letters on it: W W J D. ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ That is not only a helpful for teenagers but is a good message for all of us.

I had a remarkable experience earlier on with Word Online because when I recorded ‘The Life of Jesus’ Collection, it was 184 half hour episodes covering the life of Jesus, which studied every single passage in the four Gospels. I spent two years preparing the material and another two years recording it, (and it is now available to you free, online, on the app, and podcasting on different platforms for you to enjoy). But the reason I am telling you this is that, in that time, I felt a closer encounter with Jesus than at any other time in my church life and my Christian history because every day I was in the Gospels, and I was looking at every single thing that Jesus did - every single encounter he had with people; every single miracle; every single discussion; every single time he reached out and touched somebody who was demonised or sick. I found, in my imagination, I was there in Galilee in the crowd close to Jesus, watching what he was doing. I could easily imagine ‘What Would Jesus Do?’, because I had seen him do some amazing things in the Gospels. I want to encourage you, that one of the best ways to strengthen your Christian life and your discipleship is to study the life of Jesus.

What did I discover? Many things! Here are a few: Jesus had an amazing ability to be friendly and to make friends. He had an openness towards other people. He used physical touch to communicate often to people in need. What would Jesus do through you towards that person in need? Physical touch is important - touching their heads, touching their hands. Jesus listened carefully. Jesus gave time to people. Jesus was very honest, and sometimes he said some very firm things to people. Remember the rich man who came to him and said, “Jesus, I want to be one of your followers,” and Jesus answered, “You are doing well so far. But there is one thing you need to do. You need to go and sell all your possessions and then come and follow me.” The man went away very upset because he didn’t want to sell anything. Jesus was very honest. He didn’t cover things up. He was also very sexually pure in the way he related to other people and to women. He never became intimate in the wrong way with somebody from the opposite sex. Jesus was not interested in money and exploiting people for money. Jesus was incredibly sacrificial with his time - he gave so much time to thousands and thousands of people who came to see him. Jesus was powerful in the things he said and did. These are just some of the things I learned, and some of the things that have influenced me. Paul says here that we should be imitating Christ. The way to do that is to know and understand the actions of Jesus better and the way to do that is to study the Gospels.

Signs of a Sinful Life

Paul points out that there are some bad signs of the sinful lifestyle. One is having just the hint of sexual immorality in the Christian church - people relating to each other, who are brothers and sisters, in a sexually provocative way, suggesting they are going to enter into a sexual relationship. Paul says that should never even be thought about, or hinted at, in the church. Impurity: the main impurity of the modern world is online pornography. I speak quite openly about this issue when I am teaching Christian communities in different contexts. We must take a radical approach to pornography and not tolerate it in our lives at all. It is available all over the world in numerous online platforms, in many different contexts and languages and it is a moral evil that brings impurity to people’s lives. I have seen marriages broken up over the use of pornography. Greed: in the church, we are not to make money out of one another. Money is there to serve the Kingdom. Money that is given by church members is not to make the pastors rich; it is to advance the Kingdom. Paul speaks about bad conversation - obscenity, foolish talk, coarse joking.

The answer to all these things is thanksgiving. Paul frequently mentions thanksgiving as a main characteristic of a mature Christian. I encourage you in your community life in the church, express thanksgiving towards other people. Be thankful towards God. The attitude of thanksgiving is a way of resisting sin, because we are glorifying God and thanking him for the blessings he has brought into our life. It is one of the most wonderful things that you can do to build up your life. Consciously think of things you can thank God for. Paul says these things really do matter. Behaviour matters. Bad moral behaviour in church life will lead to the decline of that church. The Holy Spirit’s power won’t be shown, and it is unlikely that many people will become believers.

The Light Exposes the Darkness

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. That’s why it is said: ‘Wake up, sleeper. rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’”

Ephesians 5:8-14, NIV

What are these works of darkness? It might be financial corruption, violence, sexual immorality, occultism and the worship of demons and witchcraft, and false religion. It might be any of those things. We are to expose those by not living a lifestyle like that, by being different. But how else do we expose the works of darkness?

The presence of God exposes the works of darkness, and this happens in church life. If you bring people into a community where God is being worshipped and the Spirit is being honoured, very often the Spirit will bring conviction on people that there is darkness within their lives and will focus on that darkness and give them an opportunity to repent. In that way, the darkness is being exposed by the presence of God in the community. Even more specifically, Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 14: 24 and 25 that the gift of prophecy will often expose dark secrets. ‘But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare.’ Prophecy has the power to speak into people’s lives who have got dark secrets. If you have a prophetic gift, be aware of that. The presence of God exposes the darkness of moral sin, financial sin, violence, occultism, worship of evil spirits, and many other things too. Let us trust God that he can expose the darkness through our lifestyles and through our worship.

Filled by the Holy Spirit and Thanksgiving

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 5:15-20, NIV

This is a wonderful conclusion to the passage. Paul wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is the very opposite of being filled with alcohol. Being filled with the Spirit is allowing God’s power to work through us.

How do we do this? There is one very simple thing that you can do. You can ask God every morning, “Lord, fill me with your Spirit today.” That is one of the main prayers that I pray in my devotions every day. It is very simple - just a few seconds, “Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit today. Give me the gifts and the power and the grace that I need for whatever happens today in my life.”

Then Paul concentrates on singing, praising, giving thanks to God. He commands us to sing. He wants us to sing together. He wants us to sing the Psalms from the Old Testament, hymns and songs written in the church, hymns and songs that were written hundreds of years ago, hymns and songs that were written last year in your church or in your country. Songs that you understand and mean something to you. He also wants us to sing spontaneous songs led by the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit fills a worship congregation, we love singing the songs that we know, as the musicians lead us, but sometimes people will sing spontaneously - they will sing songs of worship to God. Paul encourages this, especially in smaller congregations and in house meetings.

Let us encourage singing with a focus on being thankful. Here we are again, back with thankfulness. We have mentioned thankfulness several times in the last couple of episodes. Paul constantly emphasises thankfulness, and I like to think when I am reading this passage of Paul’s situation as he was writing it. He was under house arrest. He had soldiers guarding him - probably at least two soldiers in the house at any one time. He might be restrained by chains. He couldn’t leave the house. The soldiers had a tough time because I think Paul sang songs of worship in their presence. We know that he witnessed to them, and we know that they went to the emperor’s compound and palace, and told them about the amazing guy, Paul. When Christians came to visit him in his house, which he rented, I am sure they would sing together. Paul loved to sing, and he loved to listen to singing. I want to encourage you: the singing of songs and hymns and psalms to God is a most wonderful way to engage with the Holy Spirit, indeed, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is a key. You may say, “I am no good at singing.” Do your best. Follow the lead of people who sing well. Engage with worship, with singing. It is part of the way that we live godly lives and expose the darkness around us.

In these last two episodes, Paul has been emphasising godly living in a number of different ways, giving a variety of different examples, and telling us that we need to imitate Christ; don’t grieve the Spirit; be filled with the Spirit. Think about the example of Jesus and turn away from things you know to be wrong that have been part of your old life, like taking off old clothes and putting on new clothes.

Reflections

Can I suggest to you that the question,’What Would Jesus Do?’ is a very good question to have in your mind as you are living your life and maybe facing a difficult decision - how to relate to a certain person, how to deal with money, how to deal with the church situation.

‘What Would Jesus Do?’ Ask yourself that question. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to some Bible text from the Gospels that might help you to answer that question.

In Paul’s teaching, there are two things that are powerful issues that need to be broken in our lives. One is pornography and the other is alcohol. In every society, these are real issues which cause addiction, and they are often present in Christians, which causes great shame to them. The power needs to be broken. Seek some help from a trusted friend if you are struggling with either of these issues.

Finally, let me encourage you. Always seek to be in church meetings and fellowship meetings. Be there and actively worship. Give yourself to singing and worshipping and being thankful. Being thankful is a powerful way of drawing close to God.

Thanks for listening to these two episodes, which speak about the practicalities of our Christian life. In the next episode, Paul is going to begin to talk about Christian households and families: about marriage, which we are going to study in the next episode, then about children and parents, and about household servants or slaves who existed in the households of that day. There is much to share on those topics, and I hope you will join us for those episodes.