Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Ephesians 5:3-14 | Date: March 15, 2015 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Well, if you can remember that far back, it seems like I was set on the shelf for the last month. If you can remember far back enough, we were working our way through Ephesians on Sunday mornings. In the evening, by the way, we’re working our way through Philippians. We’re back to that finally this evening as well, so if you’d like to look ahead, Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 to 18 is the next section that we’ll begin working through. And if you would like to take the time this afternoon, it would help you with that study as well to read through Acts chapters 21 through 28—21 through 28—to get the background of some things that we’ll be looking at this evening.

But in the mornings we’ve been working our way through Ephesians, and we noticed that beginning in chapter 4 and verse 1, the Apostle Paul has turned the corner to begin exhorting us now with respect to the salvation that we have in Christ. He has expounded the nature of that salvation and how it came to us, how it originated in God’s grace and how it came to us in his grace and his mercy, all of that in chapters one through three. And then in chapter four, verse one and following, he begins to exhort us now as to how we should live in light of the salvation we have in Christ. This is an important, very important part of the Christian faith: to understand how to live.

The gospel promises not only justification, acceptance before God; it promises transformation as well. And the whole genre of the Old Testament called wisdom literature is to help us in that regard, to help restore our lives in living rightly before God. And that is the burden of chapters 4 through 6 of Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus. We came to chapter 5, and we saw that he is dealing here with some very specific issues with regard to Christian living. “Walk in love,” we saw in verses 1 and 2. And today we’ll look at the subject “Walk in the Light.”

Let’s take the time to look at verses 1 through 18:

Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ has loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral, or impure, or who is covetous, that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not associate with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, our hearts have been blessed this morning as our attention has been drawn to our Savior. How grateful we are for him, that he has stood in our place and answered for all of our sins and all of our obligations for us. We thank you for the freedom that we have in him. As we turn to this portion of your word, we are reminded that your intent is to transform us and to make us like him. And as we look at this in some respects touchy subject this morning, we pray that you will enlighten our minds and shape our thinking, our hearts, and our behavior, that we may honor you. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

We saw last time that the Apostle Paul and his overall approach here is stated in verse one: “Be imitators of God as beloved children.” And then in the following passage, we are taking it as summed up in three commands that are given that sum up all of the attending commands. And those are the commands associated with the word “walk.” Obviously a metaphor for behavior, but in verse two, “Walk in love.” And there we are commanded what love is like and what kind of love we are to manifest to one another. Love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Here is the model of love: Christ in his redemptive work giving himself up in sacrifice for us. And that is the kind of love we are to manifest to one another.

Walk In The Light

The next command is in verse 8: “Walk as children of light.” And there’s our theme for this morning: walk in the light. And then next time, Lord willing, we’ll look at verse 15 and following, where we are commanded to walk in wisdom: “Walk not as unwise, but as wise.”

All right, then for this morning, verse 8 and the surrounding context, verses 3-14: walk in the light. This lengthy section, verses 3-14, contrasts for us, on the one hand, the ugliness of the life of the ungodly, and then on the other hand, the purity of Christian behavior. That’s what we’re after in this passage. This is what the Apostle Paul is writing for, contrasting the ugliness of the behavior of an ungodly life with the purity of the Christian life.

I recognize that there are some sermons that are remembered for various kinds of reasons. Some sermons are remembered because of the excellence of it, sometimes the excellence of the subject, sometimes the timeliness of it. This is a sermon I am certain that you all will remember that I’ve preached, not because of its excellence or necessarily because of its timeliness, but because of its content. I thought about titling this sermon “Christian Sexology 101.” And I thought I would probably find throughout the sermon here and there some nervous giggles. But one of the advantages of preaching through the Bible verse by verse as we do here is that we are forced to look at some subjects which might make us nervous a bit. But if we are going to unlock this passage, if we’re going to open it up with any kind of application, that’s what we’re going to have to do this morning.

And so we’re going to look at what the Apostle Paul has to say about this. And largely what is in view in this passage, verses 3 through 14, is matters of sexual purity in contrast to the immorality of those who are without Christ. Notice how he introduces it in verse three: “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper for the saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”

Notice these terms here in verses three and four. First of all, “immorality.” That is all illicit conjugal relations. “All impurity”—that broadens the thought, not just impurity generally, but notice “all impurities,” a blanket statement, all kinds of impurities. And then the third term, “covetousness,” which in this context probably has the connotations of sexuality as well, greediness for someone else’s body. And then in verse 4, he adds “filthiness” (obscenity is the idea), “foolish talking,” and then “crude joking” or vulgarity. Don’t let any of these be named among you (verse 3). Verse 4, these are “out of place.”

Now, before we go any further through this passage and develop what Paul is telling us, particularly in verse 4 but then in what follows as well, I think it’d be helpful for us to back up and put all of this in larger biblical perspective in order to clear away some misunderstandings about what the Bible has to say about human sexuality. It is true that the Bible views sexual sins with a particular kind of abhorrence. We find that in 1 Corinthians 6, where the Apostle Paul deals with fornication, and he says this is a unique kind of sin in that it is a sin against the body. A relationship is established in conjugal relations that is unique. And because of all of that, as we’ll see as we go along, this is a particularly heinous kind of sin. Paul says the same kind of thing from another angle in Romans chapter 1, where he points out homosexuality as not only a sin, but a sin that is a particularly clear kind of signal to the degradation of our society.

Now sometimes, though, these commands against sexual sins in the Bible are viewed in isolation apart from what the Bible has to say in a large way—its larger perspective on human sexuality. And not only are they viewed in isolation from the larger picture in the Bible, add to that the fact that we have had behind us in the professing Christian Church centuries of teaching that were influenced by medieval Roman Catholic views of human sexuality that have shaped the perception of Christianity’s view of sex in a way that is just plain wrong.

Let me give you some examples. We all know that in the Roman Catholic Church, for example, the celibacy of the clergy is held up as the ideal. That is a holier kind of thing. That is to say, conjugal relations are something less than holy. And I think those kinds of things have played into this general attitude of those on the outside that Christianity is against sex. So for example, the third and fourth century teachers and preachers by the name of Tertullian and Ambrose taught that the sex act was itself sinful. Even within marriage, it was sinful. And they taught that it would be better for the human race to die off altogether than to engage in such an awful activity.

Moving ahead a little bit, still in the third and fourth century, Chrysostom taught that Adam and Eve surely did not have physical relations until after the fall, because that is, of course, something that could only come as a result of sin. Origen taught the same kind of thing, and he was of the opinion further that had sin not entered into the world, there would never have been conjugal relations of any kind, but rather humanity would have reproduced by some kind of holy, angelic way that we don’t know about. Gregory of Nyssa, fourth century: Adam and Eve were created without sexual desire. And if it weren’t for the fall, the human race would have populated the earth by some kind of mode of vegetation. Augustine was not quite as negative as all of that. He said that physical relations in marriage are innocent, but he taught also that the passion that drives that is itself sinful.

Well, that was the dominant view, and still is, in a way, the dominant view in the Roman Catholic Church. That has been a view that has shaped a lot of thinking with regard to Christianity’s attitude toward sexuality. It was dominant until the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, and when the Reformers came along to right that wrong. Luther, as you may know, married, and he married boldly, and it was quite a scandalous thing in his own day. And of course he was criticized by those around him that he married only to fulfill his base desires. Calvin taught that conjugal relations is a thing that is pure and honorable, and it is holy, and it is pure because it is created by God. It is something God had instituted himself. In fact, he says—I love this quote—”It is a foolish imagination that celibacy is a virtue.”

Come to the 16th and 17th centuries and the Puritans, who of course are known widely, wrongly, but known widely for their opposition to all things that regard to human sexuality. But they were unanimous in their teaching that sex, the sex drive, was created by God himself and was therefore good and proper and something that we have to say is a good thing in itself considered. It was not just an animal appetite merely, but in their teaching, it was an expression of deep love and commitment. And because it was an expression of deep love and commitment, its only proper context then, as the Bible teaches, is within marriage. And the Puritans were, surprisingly to many, very big on romantic marital love. And some of the Puritans, when describing marital love, sound almost like 20th century erotica.

Well, it may surprise you to learn that they got all of that—that is, the Puritans and the Reformers—they got all of that from the Bible. After all, sex was God’s idea. Is that too much to say? It was His idea. He created Adam and Eve. He commanded them: “Be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth.” He looked at it all and said, “It is good.” It was his idea; it was his gift to humanity.

And I want to take just a little bit of time before we get into the rest of verse 4, so we can see what Paul has in mind here, to back off a little more and see what the Bible has to say in the large picture with regard to human sexuality. You have only to look, for example, at Song of Solomon—the book that Sunday school boys read through and giggle when they are together, looking at the man talking about his wife, describing her body parts, talking about the fun they have together sexually. He talks about her, describes her in graphic detail. She talks about him at times as well, describing him, his physique, his parts. And they talk on and on about the fun they have together. Now, whatever else you have to say about Song of Solomon and whatever else is involved in Song of Solomon, whatever else it is teaching, and however it may fit in the flow of redemptive history with some symbolism and all the rest, whatever else is involved in all of that, you have to say two things.

Number one, sexual love within marriage is not an unfit topic for conversation. It’s in a book. It’s an inspired book in the Bible. And in fact, not only is it not unfit for conversation, it is something to be celebrated. That’s what Song of Solomon does. And there’s something else we have to observe from Song of Solomon then as well, and that is that human sexuality was given not only for reproduction, although that is high on the list—”Be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth.” Human sexuality was given not just for reproduction; it was given for pleasure. I remember years ago, a man came out with a book. I never read the book. I saw the title. I think it was an exposition of Song of Solomon with regard to sexuality and some instruction for Christians in that regard. I didn’t read the book, but the title of it was Intended for Pleasure. And I thought, well, he’s got that right.

Human sexuality was a gift of God, not just for reproduction, but for pleasure. And in fact, you don’t have to read more than Proverbs chapter 5 to recognize that. Here the sage in Proverbs chapter 5 is advising his son, counseling him with regard to fidelity in marriage. How do you maintain a faithful marriage? How do you keep from cheating on your spouse? Now, keep in mind, Proverbs 5 is not all that the Bible has to say on the subject. But in Proverbs chapter 5, the counsel that this sage gives to his son, how to remain faithful in marriage, is very simply: keep the bedroom hot. He even uses language of being intoxicated on your wife’s breasts. There it is.

We come to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. The Apostle Paul says, “It is better to marry than to burn.” Now again, that’s not the only reason for marriage. There are plenty of other reasons high on the list, but that is one consideration involved. It is better to marry than to burn with pleasure or with passion. That is to say, it is given for pleasure. And in fact, 1 Corinthians 7 goes on to say, not only is it better to marry than to burn, but once you are married, that conjugal relations are something that is not to be withheld from your partner; it should be something to engage with regularly. And so in Hebrews chapter 13, we read, “Marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled.” This is a good thing.

So all of this comes to us correcting, I think, the thinking of those who consider human sexuality as an optional extra, or as something that is in itself dirty or unspiritual. And it corrects even the Roman Catholic view that sexuality is only for reproductive purposes. In a sense, I think you have to see that the Bible has, in that respect, a very—I think what even the world would call—an enlightened ring to it. God created us with this passion and he said, “It is good.”

Now, I go through all of that to help us understand why Paul says what he does in verse four. Let’s back up to verse 3, and I want you to notice what Paul says and how he concludes in verse 4. Verse 3: “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness, no foolish talking, no crude joking, which are out of place, but instead…”

Now, what you would expect here is something like, “instead, be pure. Be faithful to your spouse. Be holy.” But instead, he says, “but instead, let there be thanksgiving.” Isn’t that interesting? Now, I don’t know how to make you see the force of this, the point of this, without maybe illustrating in a way that’s going to make you giggle. What is our custom? What is it we do before we eat? We give thanks. I’m not saying you need to stop and pray before you go to bed at night. But you see what Paul is saying here? This is a good gift from God that ought to be received with thanksgiving. So far from being something that is unspiritual or dirty, this is a good gift of God that ought to be enjoyed with thanksgiving to our Creator. Isn’t that amazing?

God has made man and woman to complement each other. And one way of expressing their complementarity, one way of expressing their love and commitment, is through these relations. So what Paul is saying then in verses 3 and 4 is: don’t degrade this good gift of God by sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking, crude joking, vulgarity, obscenities, and all of that. Don’t degrade this good gift of God like that, but enjoy it as his gift and be thankful for it in the context for which it was given. Nothing illicit allowed, but rather a deep sense of gratitude for God’s good gift.

Well then, why are sexual sins such a big deal to the biblical writers, to the Puritans? Why are sexual sins then such a big deal? And the answer is just that: it twists it, it perverts it, it abuses it, and it takes this good gift from God and debases it by making it something for which it was never intended. It was intended as a gift. It was intended to be a deep expression of covenant commitment to one another within marriage. And to take it outside of that context is to make it something else and is to degrade it. In other words, the Bible teaches what we call a covenantal view of sexuality, not a commercial view of sexuality. It’s not just, “What can I get out of it? And when he or she doesn’t please me well enough, I’ll shop somewhere else.” It is a covenantal view, as an expression of committed love and commitment for one another. And so Paul exhorts us: don’t let that even be named among you. All of that’s out of place. Instead, let there be thanksgiving for what God has given.

All right, there is more or less, even though it’s framed in the negative (the commands, the prohibitions here against sexual sins), there’s sort of the positive reason for it all—of what sexuality is and what it’s intended to be.

Sexual Sin Is Deserving Of Divine Judgment

Now then, Paul follows that with some explanations. Verses 5 and following. Just why must sexual sin be avoided? He has alluded to this already in verse 3 when he says, “These are out of place.” But now in verses five and following, he explains more for us why these things are out of place. Notice the explanatory words that he gives us in verses five and seven. “For,” verse five, “for you may,” or “because you may be sure of this,” then he explains. And then he concludes in verse seven, “Therefore, do not associate with them, because…”

Okay, so keep that in mind. Let’s read verses five and following:

For—that is, instead, be thankful, put all of this away from you, don’t let it be named, because—you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral, or impure, or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these, the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not associate with them because at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

So in verses 5 and 6, he is telling us—he’s loading up our conscience: sexual sin is deserving of divine judgment and divine wrath. You may be sure of this. Everyone who’s sexually immoral, impure, or covetous has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. Don’t be deluded about this. Because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience.

He’s loading our conscience here with regard to the seriousness of these sins. Don’t ever think that sexual sin is not serious. He is very clearly saying that those who are given to this are those who will be judged. Thinking through this passage this week, I was thinking of a woman that I know who currently is living in an immoral relationship. She professes to be a believer, been involved in church for many years, ended up cheating on her husband. Because of that, he divorced her. She continues to profess to be a Christian. She’s involved with more men. And now she’s got a man living with her. And of course, when the elders come to deal with her about her sin: “Oh, I’m a Christian. Well, I’ll just find a church that loves me more.” And of course, she finds it.

The Apostle Paul is saying, of course, there are always ways to compensate. You can go to another church if you like. Don’t be deluded about that. That’s verse 6. Don’t be deluded about this. These things are very serious. You set yourself on this course; you place yourselves among those who are condemned. Now Paul, of course, here is speaking in broad categories. He’s not dealing with questions that come up. Can a Christian fall? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. But you see what he’s pushing here: these are the marks of the ungodly who come under divine judgment. You give yourself to sexual sin; that is where you place yourself. And verse six again: don’t have any false delusions about this. First Corinthians six is another good passage in this regard, where Paul tells us very plainly that there are no immoral people in the kingdom of heaven. Only former, formerly immoral people. “Such were some of you, but you’ve been washed.”

Walk As Children Of Light

Well, that leads very naturally, then, to the second and the larger part of Paul’s explanation in verses 7 and following. And what he tells us in these verses, very simply, is that in Christ we’re no longer part of that old life. We’ve been changed. This is the theme that he’s been developing ever since we began chapter four.

“Therefore, do not associate with them.” He’s not saying you can’t have your car fixed by a mechanic who is committing adultery and things like that. Don’t partake in those kinds of activities or in any way condone them. Have no association with them. “For at one time”—here’s his explanation—”for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”

There’s very much an “us and a them” awareness in these verses. And the metaphor that he uses here is darkness and light. Darkness and light. It’s a familiar category, a familiar metaphor in the scriptures. There are moral categories in the scripture. God is light. Darkness is the world. The world lies in darkness. Darkness is, in the scripture, this metaphor for what is evil, characterized by all that rejects the rule of God in life. Humanity is in darkness. Humanity has proven itself. Give us the opportunity, and there’s no end to the evil that we will do. Who was the social critic and philosopher who remarked—it was in the last century—”The devil is wildly optimistic if he thinks he can make human beings any worse than they already are.” Give us the chance; we’ll do it. Darkness—there are no depths of depravity so low, so cruel, so obscene, so degrading, that humanity is not capable of it. In fact, verse 12, he says they do things that are so shameful that we can’t even talk about it.

And then in contrast, he says there’s light, which of course then is purity. The purity of obedience, purity of godliness, which is explained then further in verse 9: “For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.” That’s what it is to be light: honest, true, good, upstanding, pure.

And so he says in verse 8, we are no longer darkness. We used to be. But we are no longer darkness, but light. Therefore, walk in the light. And notice he doesn’t say merely, “We were in darkness, and now we are in the light.” He states it categorically: “You were darkness. Now we are light. Therefore walk in the light.” This is what we find all the time in the Apostle Paul, isn’t it? Be what you are. Have we not become light in Christ? Then live accordingly. He’s speaking of the transforming effects of the gospel. Having come to Christ, we’ve been made new creatures, and we are no longer darkness. We are light. And so he says, therefore, live accordingly.

Verse 14 changes the figure a little bit, not from darkness to light, but from sleep or death to waking up and life. “Awake, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” He’s drawing here probably from Isaiah 26 and Isaiah chapter 60, some verses there. New Testament scholars conjecture that this might be the remains in verse 14—the remains of some kind of early Christian hymn, the way it’s put together, particularly because of the last line, “and Christ will shine on you.” The point is very obvious. Wake up. Live like one who is awake. You are alive in Christ. Live accordingly. Be what you are. Or as he tells us in verse 3 as we started out, this is what’s “proper among the saints.” Or verse 4, don’t do what’s “out of place” for Christians.

Again, he’s drawing on this big theme that we’ve been made new in Christ, we’ve been changed and made over, and it has to—it has to—it inevitably will show itself in the way that we live. There is a difference, a recognizable moral and ethical difference between the church and the world. One of the delights of coming together to meet at church, as we call it, one of the delights of coming to small groups, one of the delights of getting together with believers, brothers and sisters from church—one of the delights of it is that it brings us away from the smut of the world. There’s a difference. It’s a refreshing break to be with God’s people.

So Paul says this is how each of us must strive to live individually. Verse seven: “Do not associate with them. Do not take part in any of that.” And then verse 10—don’t you love the alternative?—”Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.” What a great motto to live by. Try to discern in every situation what would please God and act accordingly. What would please Christ in this situation, and act accordingly? Not guided by public opinion, not guided by popularity polls, not guided by the latest trend—social trends, ethical trends, whatever they may be—not being threatened by the… In today’s discussion on homosexuality, “You don’t want to be on the wrong side of history, do you?” There’s lots of answers to that I’d love to give. Discern what is pleasing to the Lord. And this is what we live by.

People of Christ then are to be distinguished from the world in some obvious ways, not blending in but standing out as a kind of counterculture in the world. And so verse 11: “Have no part in the unfruitful works of darkness.” Brothers and sisters, if ever there is a passage of scripture that is relevant to us in our cultural setting, it is a passage like this. We are bombarded continually with all things sexual, and that is a sexuality that is completely removed from the context for which it was created. It has become something else entirely. Advertisers have learned the power of lust. You can’t buy cereal or a hammer or anything else without being lured with something sexual.

And in all of that, Christians become insensitized. Things that used to be abhorrent have become normal. In our generation, we have seen the rise of something the church has never seen in this kind of way before. We have seen in the church, in the church, the need to bring on staff counselors. I’m not opposed to that; I think it’s a good thing. I think it’s a good thing if it’s needed. What’s bad, of course, is that we need it more than we used to. What’s fascinating about it in a terrible way is that church counselors brought on staff to deal with people and their problems across the board—across the board—will tell you the number one problem, the number one problem in people in the church, is guess what? Pornography. And it’s not just those churches. In otherwise solid churches, evangelical churches—can I say it?—even in reformed churches, the number one issue that counselors have to face is pornography.

I don’t want to believe that about… I want to think better than that about RBC. I really do. But I have to say that all the experts would tell me that I’m naive if I think otherwise. We’re bombarded with this stuff all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time. We become insensitive to it. The last couple of generations have given over so much to so-called sexual freedom. We’ve lost all sense of propriety. Paul says, verse 3, don’t let it be named among you. Verse 4, it’s not fitting. Verse 7, do not associate with them. Verse 11, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness. The whole thrust of the passage then is, brothers and sisters, we are light in the world. Let us therefore walk as children of light.

Now my time is up, but very quickly, verses 11 and following, Paul takes this even a step further. And he tells us here it is not enough just to remain from sexual sin. Verse 11: we must expose it. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Live righteously as a stark contrast, which by reflection exposes the world’s evil. The word translated “expose” here—”expose them”—it’s a word that’s used elsewhere in the New Testament, translated “convict,” “convince.” The idea is you’ve not only showed them evil, the evil that they’ve done, but you’ve convinced them of the evil of it, and they’re shamed for it. This is the word used, for example, in John 16: “The Spirit has come to convict the world of sin, of righteousness and judgment.”

And it just might be then that verses 13 and 14 are to be understood with some evangelistic kind of connotations, where we shine the light and expose the evil and call people to wake out of sleep and arise from the dead and live in the light that is in Christ. God has placed us here as lights, lights to shine forth as the great transforming power of Christ in the gospel. And what drives us, what must shape us is, “How can I please the Lord? How can I please Christ?” This is the rule by which we live. By this rule, we demonstrate the truth of the gospel that we proclaim. Amen.

Our Father, we pray that you will change us and make us to what you’ve called us to be. Lord, we confess that our minds are influenced too much by the smutty world around us. Lord, clean us. Make us more like Christ. Help us to walk in the light because, in fact, we are light in Christ. We will thank you for it in Jesus’ name. Amen.