Walking in Holiness
- Michael Dennis
- Jun 13, 2010
- Series: Ephesians: Alive
Welcome to North Village Church. My name is Michael and we are glad to have you here this morning. Last Sunday we had Russell come in to teach for me while I was on vacation and we had a great time in Florida, but it is good to be back.
Russell is a friend of mine who is in the process of starting a new church in Kyle and he said he had a great time with you guys last week walking us through the last part of Ephesians 4 to see that when we place our faith in Jesus Christ we become a new creation in Christ.
We are no longer a people who are characterized by our failures and accomplishments. We are no longer the kid who got picked on, no longer the athlete, no longer the smart one in the class, or the one who is good with their hands because our identity is in Jesus Christ.
We are no longer a people who are separated from God by our sin and live in this limbo of guilt, shame, and disapproval, because our relationship with God has been restored through Jesus Christ.
We no longer have to strive and fight for the approval and acceptance of others because we have been completely approved and accepted through faith in Jesus Christ’s work on the cross.
It isn’t a self-help belief system, it isn’t thinking positive, but that our spiritual identity before God is completely changed through faith in Jesus Christ.
Before faith in Jesus we are dead in our sin, sons of disobedience, and have offended a Holy and Righteous God and have ultimately gone to war with God.
We have separated ourselves from God and instead of worshipping God we want to be God and we live lives under this constant exhaustion of trying to be God and it never brings any satisfaction.
Jeremiah in the Old Testament describes our lives as jars with cracks that are never able to hold water, and no matter how much water we put in the jar, no matter how much we try to be God, we are never able to find satisfaction.
I was talking with someone on the phone recently and they went from making $30,000 a year to inheriting over $500,000 and they thought their life would be set. Can you imagine someone handing you $500,000 and yet today they live under this constant panic they are going to lose it, be taken advantage of, spend it the wrong way, or have nothing to show for it and it’s because we are broken people, spiritually dead, exhausted and separated from God.
In His mercy and grace God doesn’t leave us alone in that separation, but responds to us through Jesus Christ coming and dying on the cross for our sin. When Jesus dies on the cross He isn’t just being a nice guy, but Jesus is taking the consequences, the punishment, the penalty, for our sin and shame upon Himself at the cross. He takes it to the point of death and 3 days later raises from the dead and conquers sin and death.
When we place our faith in Jesus’ work on the cross this is our new identity. Our sin, shame, guilt has not only been accounted for in Jesus’ death, but He’s overcome it as well and clothes us in His righteousness.
Who are you? Are you a mom, a businessman, good with numbers, sinner…no you are a new creation, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus because of the cosmic event that took place at the cross. That is why chapter 5 verse 1 starts off:
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
I think we can read “be imitators of God” and maybe for some of us that feels like that is impossible. We know our flaws, our mistakes, the things we did last night or even this morning. Some of them were externally, but some were in the quietness of our heart and it is easy to read verse 1 and think, “Be imitators of God? Impossible.”
But I want us to take a moment and remember what it was like the first time we met Jesus. The first time you became a new creation in Jesus Christ. Remember the first time you read Scripture and it came alive? Remember the first time you prayed and you knew God was listening? Remember the first time you worshipped and you weren’t just singing songs, but were in awe of your creator? Remember. Remember what that was like? Now in context of that first memory read verse 1 again, “Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children.”
I imagine there’s a difference in your outlook, attitude, confidence and this morning we are going to look in Ephesians 5 and see what if those weren’t just memories. What if you could walk in that consistently? What if verse 1 didn’t remind you of your shortcomings, but supernaturally moved you to continually experience this new identity in Jesus Christ. Look at verses 3-5:
3 But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; 4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Verse 3 starts off with “but” because there is a contrast between verse 1 and verse 3 and it is because in these 3 verses Scripture gives us a list of sinful behaviors that hinder us from being imitators of God. They are like snares around our feet that hinder us from being imitators of God.
At first glance it might be easy to get lost in the list of sinful behaviors and it come across like we have a God who is telling us everything we do wrong, however, you have to keep in mind that this letter is written to real people and it is likely these were specific sins for those who received the letter.
It isn’t listed to be mean, to insult, to put them down, but to lovingly say, “This isn’t who you are any more!” You are a new creation in Christ and those old things have passed away, and new things have come. When we come to Scripture it isn’t telling us who we need to be…but telling us who we already are when our faith is in Jesus Christ.
We can look at the list and see immorality and impurity and these aren’t words we use in our vocabulary any longer but it includes all types of sexual immorality. It includes behaviors like adultery, fornication, pornography, and they are sexual behaviors intended to take place within marriage.
It is the times we spend looking at pictures on the inter-net, undressing another woman, or reading romance novels to emotionally escape from our marriage. They are all types of sexual sin we don’t talk about, we want to keep in darkness, and they are secrets we hope nobody ever finds out.
Scripture is teaching us when our faith is in Jesus’ work on the cross, that isn’t who we are any longer. You are a new creation. You don’t have to do those things. They don’t bring satisfaction. They last for a moment, but it always fades. We come to Scripture to see the things that don’t line up with God and it is teaching us like verse 1…stop imitating death and destruction and instead imitate God.
We can also look at the list and see words like filthiness, silly talk, and course jesting and these are relational sins that separate us from one another. This is where we turn on one another in gossip, slander, and sarcasm. It isn’t direct. We don’t cuss each other out to our face. We are much sneakier and we just make passive aggressive comments and if anyone happens to ever confront us then we just say, “I’m only kidding, I’m just joking.” We betray, we hurt, we put each other down, and we have an uncanny ability to find each other’s weaknesses and just prey upon them to a point where we drive a wedge in our relationships.
Scripture is teaching us…stop. That isn’t who you are. You are hanging on to something that you have been set free from, that is no longer who you are. It may feel familiar, it may feel comfortable, but it is bringing death and destruction into your life and it isn’t who you are.
We see sexual sins, relational sins, and in that last chunk we see spiritual sins like coveting and idolatry. This is when we worship, desire, love or live for anything besides the one true God. It could be a cult or religion, but also money, acceptance, even our families, and for most of us it is likely we worship ourselves and we adore ourselves more than anything else. We don’t want to worship God, we want to be God and we want God there just to help us if we need Him. We will spend the whole day and night thinking about what other people think about us and the reality is other people aren’t thinking about you, we don’t have time to think about you because we are too busy thinking about ourselves. We worship ourselves.
Scripture is teaching us…stop that isn’t who you are. We are pouring our time, energy, and money into things that are fading. None of it will last. When we were in Florida on the beach we saw all these beautiful homes. Drove through Miami and West Palm Beach and it was just mansion after mansion and they were beautiful, but none of it will last. At the most they will have those homes for 30-40 years and then they die and it is all gone. Scripture is teaching if we are coveting houses, cars, passion…we have made the bar too low. None of it will last and through faith in Jesus Christ we have been set free to worship and covet a God that is so much greater.
The people who are reading this letter are a lot like many of us in this room. We have placed our faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and become a new creation and Scripture is teaching us…these characteristics aren’t who you are any longer. That is why in verse 5 Scripture can say these people don’t have an, “inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” because people who do these things don’t know Jesus, they are still clinging to death and destruction, but you have placed your faith in Christ you are a new creation.
When you read verses 1-5 we read it and think this isn’t who I am and I want to get as far as possible from these things. Verses 6-10 is going to help us move in that direction:
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them; 8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Underline the word “deceive” in verse 6 because in that day there was a deception that their body was separate from their soul and it didn’t matter what they did in their human bodies. It was called Gnosticism. Today we don’t call it Gnosticism, but we have little beliefs that what we do doesn’t matter. We find ourselves thinking things like:
Sin doesn’t hurt anyone…often times because we don’t see immediate results of sin we think it doesn’t matter. We think we can participate in the list of sins in verses 3-5 and because we don’t see immediate consequences that it doesn’t do any harm. We are deceiving ourselves because if we continue to wallow in them then one day we are going to wake up in broken marriages, spiritually tanked, relationally alone, and we are going to think, “What happened?” How did I end up here? Why does everyone avoid me? It’s because sin is like a grenade. We spend 3-5 years playing catch with a live grenade and because they didn’t go off right away we stick them in our pocket and take it home like a souvenir, but in time they are going to explode and we are going to lose body parts and wondering, “Where did my leg go?” Sin hurts. It hurts God, it hurts others, and it hurts ourselves.
Jesus will forgive me…as though we can just live and do what we want. As though Jesus embraces immorality and impurity and will let us wallow in sin, death, and destruction. Jesus doesn’t bless disobedience. It is the opposite and the Spirit will bring discipline and not because God is mad at us, but because He loves us and desperately wants us to get away from sin as fast as possible.
This doesn’t mean we live lives of perfection, but it means we have been made Holy and if you find yourself in that position it isn’t the norm, it causes your stomach to turn, and you want to get away from it as fast as possible. When we approach things with the conclusion that Jesus will simply forgive me then we are living under a deception with empty words.
Everyone’s doing it…we tend to pull our comfort level with sin by the people we are around and God has a much higher standard. We need to get away from sin and if we are around people who are hindering us spiritually then we need to take some time to step away from those relationships.
If you look at verse 7 it tells us to not be partakers with them. That doesn’t mean we are suppose to avoid people with sin because that means we would have to avoid everyone and lock ourselves in a closet and even then we would still be surrounded by a fallen creation. It is teaching us not to partake with people who are hindering us spiritually. Jesus hung out with sinners all the time, but they weren’t hindering Him in the process.
What we do and how we live matters. We are no longer darkness, no longer clothed in sin and chains, but now through faith in Jesus Christ we are in the Light of the Lord, therefore, walk as children of Light. We look at verses 1-5 and that’s not who we are. We look at verses 6-10 to be on guard against deception.
In this last passage we not only see it’s not who we are, be on guard, but Scripture goes one step further and calls us to expose it. Look at verses 11-14:
11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. 14For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you."
This passage gets aggressive…and it has to because Scripture knows how deceptive and dangerous sin is and verse 11 teaches us to expose sin. That isn’t our natural reaction is it? Our natural reaction is to hide it, ignore it, avoid it, hope it goes away, but at all costs keep it a secret. Keep it in the dark, but do you know what it is like when it is dark. You remember what it feels like in the dark. Remember how it felt when you were a kid? You can’t see. Shadows in the corner play tricks on your mind, we start fabricating fears, we panic, we hear things, and sin is a little bit like that, and Satan just wants to keep it in the dark and toy with us emotionally, physically, spiritually. Scripture teaches us in verse 13 to bring it in to the light.
Everything becomes visible in the light. It isn’t for humiliation or condemnation, but for love, correction, peace, and a stronger faith to see the power of Christ remove that temptation. Expose it and bring it to Jesus. For us this morning we need to ask ourselves, “What am I hiding?” What am I hanging on to? This morning Scripture is teaching us that we have been set free through faith in Jesus Christ and we can walk away from those things.
The problem is that some of us feel so comfortable in our sin, so comfortable being deceived that we are spiritually being lulled to sleep. Even though we know to avoid it, to be on guard, even though we have met Jesus; we are being lulled to sleep spiritually and it isn’t even good sleep. It is a restless, up all night, head bobbing kind of sleep and verse 14 is teaching us in love and compassion to wake up!
It is if we are at home in the middle of the night tossing and turning and Satan is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He is going through our house, sifting through our things and sin is lulling us into a deep sleep. The devil is sneaky, he isn’t making any noise, everything is just fine. You might wake up for a moment, maybe you heard something, and he just pats you on the head and says, “Shh, go back to sleep.” Just keep doing what you are doing, it doesn’t matter, Jesus will forgive you, everyone’s doing it, it’s not going to hurt anyone, just keep sleeping. And verse 14 Scripture is teaching us to “wake up”! This isn’t who you are. Wake up, turn on the lights, look who is in your house, it’s sin that leads to death and destruction, get a baseball bat, and wake up!
Most of the world is spiritually a sleep, but the Christ follower is spiritually awake, eyes wide open, and Ephesians 5 is teaching us we might cross over for a little while, but it is just a moment, it isn’t normal, we don’t stay there, we get back as fast as possible.
When we read chapter 5 we see it’s not who we are, be on guard, and expose it. If you are here this morning and still hanging on to sin, on to yourself, and separated from God you need to know that it leads to death and destruction. It might not be today driving home in the car, but it will happen because our sin has offended a Holy and Righteous God and at some point you will experience the eternal wrath of God and you don’t have to. In His grace and mercy God has provided a means of escape through Jesus Christ.
For those of us who have be set free from our sin then we want to get away from it as fast as possible. We want to confess, we want to expose, we want to drag it into the light because we know God is so much better than whatever sin we are hanging on to.
We are hanging on to gossip because people listen to us, we are hanging on to hurting people because it makes people laugh, we are hanging on to sexual thoughts because it feels like intimacy, we are hanging on to lies because we don’t people to find out who we are, and this morning Scripture is teaching us that God is so much better.
Think of how much time and energy we are spending on hiding our sin hoping people don’t find out. The lies we tell, the people we hurt, the emails we delete, and the nights of sleep we miss because we are planning and scheming how to hide our sin the next day and hope that nobody ever finds out.
God is so much better. This morning let’s expose it, let’s bring it to Jesus, and maybe tell him for the first time. He already knows but our hearts are softened as we confess things to Him. Confess our pride, our arrogance, our self- sufficiency, our hearts that are filled with lust, bitterness that we have toward maybe someone in this room.
Let’s not leave it in the darkness and drag it into the light as He is in the light. Your temptation will be to hang on to it, you’re telling yourself right now that you can do it on your own, you don’t need anyone, first get it cleaned up and then talk to someone, but Scripture tells us to expose it.