Latin-American Reformed Seminary Ephesians

May 2018

Lecture 11
Ephesians 5: 1-2

Intro.

I. What does it say?

- What Paul wants us to see here
o In these verses
 (That really conclude chapter 4
 More than they begin chapter 5)
o Is that the first two chapters
 Don’t just provide
 The foundation
o For our worldview

 But also provide

 The pattern
o For how we should live.

- In order to summarize
o And underscore
 Everything that he has just said
 In ch. 4
o Paul here says essentially
 That the life we are called
 To live
o Is one that bears the family
likeness.

- As we have been adopted by God

o Called his children
 And given the rights of heirs
 (as we saw in ch. 1

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o And as he states here in v. 1)

o As we have been brought
 So to speak
 Into the family of God
 Our calling now
o Is to live in a way
 That bears the family
likeness
 We are called
 To imitate our
father in
heaven.

- And this is an important

o Way to understand
 The life
 That we are called to.

- As we have said
o In ch. 4
 Paul has described
 The non-Christian way of life
o As being one that is confined to
the senses.
o You remember
 He has described it as a way of life
 (4: 22)
o That is corrupted through
deceitful desires
 A way of life
 That is (v. 17)
o Futile in its thinking
 And (v. 19)

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o Essentially sensual,
 That is confined to the
realm of the senses.
o It is a way of life
 He described in ch. 2
 As being lived in the “passions of the
flesh, carrying out the desires of the
body and the mind”

- In other words
o What Paul is describing
 Is a way of life
 That has been dehumanized by sin.

- We have noted this several times recently

o But it bears repeating:
 Humans are like the animals
 But we are not animals.
 We are like the animals
 Created on the same day of creation
o Created on the sixth day of
creation,
 And we are undeniably similar
o So similar
 That if you simply
examine the physical
characteristics
 Of humans and
animals
 You may well
conclude
 (as many do)

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 That humans
are simply
another animal,
 The “naked
ape” as
Desmond
Morris
famously
branded us.
- But Scripture is clear
o In its account
 Of that sixth day of creation,
 While humans are like animals
o We are not animals,
o Because we are the only
creature
 That bears the image of
God.

- Now what that means

o Is something that theologians
 Have wrestled to understand
 Through the ages,
o But the Westminster Shorter Catechism
 Helpfully summarizes it
 “God created man male and female,
after his own image, in knowledge,
righteousness, and holiness, with
dominion over the creatures.” (WSC 10)

- In other words
o Whereas the animals

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 Are confined to following their passions and

desires,
 Humanity bears the image of God
 In a knowledge of a higher sphere
o And the imprinting of God’s law
on our hearts
 And our being set apart
 As not simply
among the
creatures,
 But over the
creatures,
 Given the
special
commission to
rule and
subdue the
earth.
- But sin
o Corrupts this image
 And it debases us,
 It brutalizes us
 And reduces us down
o To following that animalistic
 Sensual way of life.

- Perhaps
o The best example and illustration of this
 That we find in Scripture
 Is what happened to King
Nebuchadnezzar
o In Daniel ch. 4.

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- You remember the story

o Here was mighty King Nebuchadnezzar
 A master of the universe
 If ever there was one.
 Ruling the vast Babylonian Empire
o That covered most of what we
now know as the Middle East.

o But you remember

 In fulfillment of Daniel’s interpretation of his
dream
 God revealed to him his true nature.

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months
he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king
answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my
mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from
heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has
departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your
dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to
eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until
you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to
whom he will.” Immediately the word was fulfilled against
Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an
ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as
long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws. (Daniel 4:28-
33)

- What’s that all about?

o It’s about this.

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 God simply revealed to Nebuchadnezzar

 His true nature in sin,
 The restraining hand of God
o Was lifted
 And he was shown his
true nature in sin,
 Debased, brutalized,
 While he had convinced himself of his
power and enlightenment,
o Apart from God
 He was simply driven by
his senses,
 A slave to the desire of
his body and mind
 Corrupted by his
deceitful desires.
- It is a picture
o Of our nature apart from Christ,
 That image of God marred and scarred
 And us reduced to nothing more than
animals.
- But,
o As Paul has been driving home
 In this letter,
 In Christ
o We are made new.
o In Christ
 We put on
 Ch. 4 v. 24
o “the new self, created after the
likeness of God in true
righteousness and holiness.”
- What Paul wants us to see

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o Is that the good news of the Gospel

 Is that we are brought up from our brutality
 And the image of God is restored in us.
o Our eyes are lifted from ourselves,
 And we are reoriented back
 To God.
o That knowledge, righteousness
and holiness
 Is restored to us.
 Our dignity is brought
back.
- And what Paul is saying
o In verse 1
 Is that this should be a conscious part
 Of how we live now.

- The pull to follow the senses

o Is strong.
 The pull to follow
 The deceitful desires of the body
o Is strong.
o The plausible arguments
 (to use Paul’s phrase from Colossians)
 The plausible arguments of our culture
o Have an appearance of wisdom,
o And if we are honest
 We feel the strong temptation
 To do what feels good.
- But here
o As Paul underscores
 What he has just said
 In ch. 4

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o About the new life we have in

Christ,
o He says to us
 That we need to remember
 That we are the beloved children of
God,
 And so we are called
o To a new life
 A life that is lived in the
imitation of God.
- And so
o We pursue a life
 That is conformed
 To the will of God
o As it is revealed in Scripture
 Even when that runs
counter to the wisdom
 Of the culture
that surrounds
us.
o We study the Law of God
 To understand how God would have us live
 As His children.
o We study the 10 commandments
 And we seek to understand
 Not just the plain command
o But the good and necessary
consequences that flow from it
 And the application of
those commandments
to our lives.
o We study the Sermon on the Mount
 To understand

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 The life that is consistent

o With our Christian profession.
- We pursue
o What Paul calls in Galatians 5
 The “fruit of the Spirit”.
 We seek to be loving
o And joyful
o And peaceful,
 We seek to be patient
o And kind
 And good,
 We seek to the faithful
o And gentle
 And (perhaps most
important)
 We seek to be
self-controlled.
- Contrary to what our culture says
o Contrary to what our bodies and our minds say,
 We seek to know God
 And to imitate Him
o In our knowledge, our
righteousness and holiness.

- But notice
o In verse 2
 Paul focuses in
 And he wants us
o To imitate
 God in one particular
area:
 He says “walk in love, as
Christ loved us and gave

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himself up for us, a

fragrant offering and
sacrifice to God.”
- He brings this in
o From the abstract
 And he says
 What this means
o Is that as Christians
 As those who have
received the love of
God
 In Christ,
 We are called
 To love one
another in the
same way.

- Now again
o Our culture
 Has a very sense-ual understanding of love.
 We understand love to be a feeling:
o Some kind of inward feeling of
affection towards someone
else.
o Romantically
 It’s those butterflies
 In the stomach
o When we behold our beloved,
o Or its those
 Feelings of warm affection
 When we are in the company
o Of certain people.
- But here

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o Paul says
 We’re called to a different love:
 A love that is not so much a feeling
o As it is an action.
- He says
o You are called to love one another,
 And what that means
 Is that you surrender yourself
o For the good of another.
o It is the resolve
 To do good to another
 Even if they
don’t deserve it
 And even if it
comes at cost
to yourself.

- Right?
o V. 2 “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up
for us”
o When Jesus went to the Cross
 He went there
 Driven, compelled
o By His love
 For us His people,
 But it wasn’t a warm-fuzzy kind of love.
 Jesus wasn’t gooey-eyed as he hung
 Bearing the wrath of God.
o It was a resolute
 Determined
 Will-full love
o That was resolved to do good

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 To us who totally did

not deserve it.
o It was an active love
 That willingly
 Stood in our place
o To bear the cost of our
salvation,
 That willingly bore the full wrath of God
 Against our law-breaking
o Against our sin
 So that we could be
forgiven
 And brought up out of
the living death of our
sin
 And brought
into the eternal
life
 Of the presence
of God.

- And Paul says

o As we consider
 What it means to live as a Christian
 What it means to be driven on by that
salvation
o That we have received
 By the love of God
 Manifest in the
work of Christ
o We are to understand
 That it is not just our motivation
 But it is our pattern as well.

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o As we have been loved by God

 We are called to love
others.
- You remember
o How Jesus illustrated this
 In Matthew 18:21-35?

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother
sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said
to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who

wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle,
one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since
he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and
children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant
fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay
you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant
released him and forgave him the debt.

But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow
servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to
choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down
and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He
refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.

When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly
distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had
taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You
wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with
me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had
mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until

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he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every
one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.

- You hear what Jesus is saying?

o The His Kingdom
 Is one
 That is characterized
o By a persistent forgiveness
 Of those who have
wronged us,
o Because our place in that Kingdom
 Is dependent on
 God’s forgiving us
o How we have wronged Him -
 And we have wronged
Him in an infinitely
greater way.

- And that’s what Paul is saying here.

o If Ephesians 1 and 2
 Is true of us
 Then we must be a people
o Quick to show grace to others.
o We cannot harbor grudges,
o We cannot nurse grievances,
o We cannot store up bitterness
o Or demand vengeance for
ourselves.
 To do so would be
would be utterly
hypocritical at the least,

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 Or, worse, to
blasphemously think
ourselves of greater
importance than God.

Conc.

- What Paul is saying here

o Is that as we consider
 How we are to live
 As Christians,
o As we consider
 How we are to live as Christians generally
 But also specifically
o As he is about to move on to,
- We must remember
o All that we have received from God
 And we must remember
 That now that we have been adopted
o Into the family of God
o We are called
 To bear the family
likeness.
 We are called to extend
grace and mercy
 As we have
received grace
and mercy.
- It is simply
o Another way
 Of saying
 What he said

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o At the beginning of chapter 4.

o If we have received everything from God
 Even though we deserved nothing from God
 Then we must
o Necessarily
 Live lives of radical self-
forgetfulness,
 Not focused on what
we want or desire, or
how we would do
things,
 But wholly focused
 On doing good
to others,
 Even if they
don’t deserve
it.
- We are a Gospel-people,
o Marked by grace
 Driven by grace
 And extending grace.

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