Summer Index #8 Eph 5:1-21

Ephesians 5:1-21 “The Motivation for the Gospel New Life”

This was a hard study this week, but by God’s grace may He still bless this to us all.

1) What we are called to be:
We noticed that there is a big focus on how we are to be active in seeking to live out the new people that we have been made in Christ, rather than sitting back expecting it to happen magically.

- imitators of God (v.1a)
- beloved children (v.1b)
- walking in love like Christ loved us in dying for us (v.2)
- thankful (v.4b)
- children of light, producing the fruit of light (v.8-9)

2) What we are called not to do:
- defiling ourselves in sexual immorality, which includes all sorts of impurity or lust (v.3) – why this great focus? Probably because as Jesus says when we are made a new man, when we are sexually impure it is like we are joining Christ to what is sexually impure.
- defiling our speech with foolish or filthy talk (v.4)
- not to be partners with the “sons of disobedience” who incur God’s wrath in their rebellion against Him (v.6)
- taking no part whatsoever in the unfruitful works of darkness (v.11)

3) The Motivations to live this new life:
We read of four motivations to practically live out the new life in our Christian experience:

a) We are recipients of God’s love, as demonstrated through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection (v.2), so want to live in a way that is pleasing to Him in thanksgiving (v.10)

b) We have been made God’s light in a dark world (v.7-14): Jesus said that we are the light of the world and we should let that light shine. We are called not to take part in the acts of darkness instead we are to expose and bring to light sin with God’s truth through our lives in that truth (v.11). The sin of people can be made visible by the contrast of our lives in God. But that is not the only function of our light, because Paul also says that “anything that becomes visible is light”. John Stott suggests this: ‘this may mean that Christians who lead a righteous life thereby restrain and reform evildoers, yes, and even convert them…for it may bring people as they see the ugliness of evil to conviction of their sin and so to penitent faith in Jesus.’ (J. Stott, The Message of Ephesians pp.200-201) => the quote introduced as “therefore” in v.14 while appearing close to Isaiah 60v1 is suggested to be an early church hymn sung at baptisms (which is a picture of the death of the old self with Christ on the Cross, and the new self raised into new life with Christ in His resurrection) which is fitting if it is the culmination of this idea of our light also leading to people being saved.

c) We have God’s wisdom so should make the most of our time to make a difference for the gospel in a dark age (v.15-17). Walking in wisdom means conducting ourselves as the new creation in Christ Jesus in a proper way before the world, because if we act unwisely in sin then we will only be seen as hypocrites and will never lead the lost to Christ. But wisdom also involves understanding “what the will of the Lord is”, which comes from our relationship with God, for as we grow closer to Him and are changed more into the likeness of Christ (with the renewing of our minds) we will better know and live out wisely the will of God.

d) We are filled with the Spirit (v.17-21). God doesn’t expect us to do the new life on our own, He offers us His Holy Spirit in incredible measure. We read: “be filled with the Holy Spirit”, which should literally be read: “continually let yourself be filled with the Holy Spirit”. All what comes after that (the thanksgiving, singing, encouraging one another in psalms) filling is simply the overflow of what happens when we live a life that is constantly letting God fill us to overflowing with Himself. The new life is in Christ and having Christ in us and having Christ overspill out of us into this world. Rather than being drunk with wine (which Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones says is a depressive substance that reduces our higher mental functions of man reducing us to animalistic functions), we are to be filled with the Spirit (which creates and conforms us more into the likeness of the true and perfect man, Jesus Christ).