Latin-American Reformed Seminary Ephesians

May 2018

Lecture 12
Ephesians 5: 3-21

Intro.

- What Paul wants to do

o In his letter,
 Is get his readers to a point
 Where we understand
o That there is not an iota of our
lives
 That this Gospel does
not touch
 And transform.

- And as we have noted

o As we have gone along
 In this letter
 Is that Paul is incredibly systematic
o And careful
 In how he explains this.

o As a good teacher
 Paul does not just want his readers
 To grasp the what of what he is saying,
o But to grasp also the why of
what he is saying.

- Paul is not simply wanting

o Behavior modification.
 He wants his readers
 To understand
o The logic of the Christian
worldview

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 So that when we face

trials and temptations
 We are able to stand
firm
 Robust and
confident in our
way of
understanding
the world.
- Paul wants to establish
o A robust understanding
 Of the Christian faith and worldview
 Because not every temptation we face
o Is obvious.
 Devil is subtle:
 Devil appears
as an angel of
light. (2 Cor. 11:
14)
 Tend to think of Devil as
bold and brash
 But he is
usually more
subtle and
clever.
 Works in the
world of half-
truths.
o And that’s really the greatest threat
 That we face.
- And that was important
o In first century Ephesus.

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 Acts 19 makes it clear

 That to be a Christian
o In that Roman, pagan society
 Was not going to be
easy.
o To be a Christian
 In first-century Ephesus
 Was going to require
 Standing out from the crowd
o And facing the hostility
 Of the culture in which
they lived.
- And that is important
o Now, here
 In the 21st Century.
 It is plain
 That we are
o As Christians
 On a divergent course
 With the society that
surrounds us.
- Even among church-goers
o A robust Christian worldview
 That is built upon
 The Word
o Of God
 Is increasingly viewed
with suspicion
 If not disdain.
- And that is hard
o It was hard
 For the Ephesians
 It is hard for us.

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 It is hard to face
o That hostility.
 It is hard to be thought of
o As somehow out-of-step.
- And as it gets hard
o The deceitful empty words
 That Paul describes
 In verse 6
o Become increasingly attractive,
o And we being to wonder
 Just how much we can
yield,
 Just how much we can
give way.
- But Paul,
o Of course,
 Wants his readers
 To have no part
o In such a compromising and
buckling Christianity.
o He wants us to be confident
 In our worldview,
 Confident in how we are called to live
o And confident in why we are
called to live that way.
- And so
o Having gone
 Into a magisterial
 And beautiful
o Description of the Gospel
 In the first two
chapters,
 Describing not just

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 The heights of the riches

o Of the salvation
 That we
 Repenting
rebels
 Have gained in
Christ,
 But also
 The depths of the sin
o From which we have come
 To lay hold of those
riches,
o Paul has
 In chapter 4
 And here in chapter 5
o Brought all this to bear
 On how we view
 Our lives in this
world.
- And his big-point
o Is that our fundamental
 Point of reference
 Is different
o From that of the world around
us.
o Whereas the non-Christian world around
 Is driven by their senses,
 By what they can see and taste and hear
and smell and feel and touch,
 In other words
 Their lives
o At the root
 Are self-referential,

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 Being built on their

subjective experience,
 And their
determination
 Of what is right
and wrong.

- But for the Christian

o Our eyes are lifted
 To behold a far grander
 Point of reference.
o Instead of being confined
 To the here-and-now,
 We live
o In the context of the eternal:
 Having been
predestined by God
 For adoption as
His children,
 And to be
granted an
inheritance of
every blessing
in the heavenly
places,
 From an
eternity past,
 We have a hope
 Of dwelling
with God
 In His Kingdom

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 For all eternity

future.
- And what that means
o Paul wants us to see
 Is that
 That must be the lens
o Through which we view our
daily lives.
o As temptations bear down upon
us
 As the culture pressures
us,
 We remember
that our
momentary
experience
 Is lived in an
eternal context.

- So,
o In the first half of this passage
 Paul brings this down to bear
 On specific parts of the culture.
o Bringing his argument down
 From the philosophical ch. 4
 Paul brought this all directly to bear
o On the moral code
 Of the society
 In which his
original readers
lived.

- Instead of

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o The sexual immorality (that is, sexual conduct outside

the bond of marriage)
o Instead of
 The impurity and covetousness,
 The filthiness and foolish talk and crude
joking,
o In the face
 Of these self-referential sins
 That seeks simply
o The gratification
 Of personal pleasure
 And personal
advancement,
 The Christian
 Is to stand distinct.

- And the reason

o You remember
 Is that we are
 Now, by virtue of our salvation
o By virtue of our union with God
 As distinct from that society
o And the worldview
 That pervades it
 As light is
o From darkness.

- Once,
o Paul says,
 In verse 8
 We were darkness.
 Once we lived in the midst
o Of that self-referential,

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 Sensual world,
 Blinded to God and the
things of God,
 But now,
 We are “light in the Lord.”
o Now,
 We have brought up
out of that darkness
 And have been
made
 The children of
the God who is
light and in
Whom there is
no darkness at
all,
 And so (end of
v. 8)
 We are to walk
as children of
light.
- That is to say
o That the whole trajectory of our lives
 Are to be driven and shaped
 By the identity
o That we have in our salvation.

I. What does it say?

- And so important is this
o That Paul
 Essentially repeats himself
 In this passage.

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- Remember: repetition = emphasis,

o And Paul circles back round here
 To essentially cover the same ground
 Because he wants to drive this
o Into the hearts of his readers.

- And this is something

o That it is hard for our hearts to get.
 It is hard for us to truly grasp
 Just how different we are now
o By virtue of our salvation,
 It is hard for us to truly grasp
 Just how radically and fundamentally
o We have been transformed by
 Our union to God
 Through our
faith
o In
Christ.
- But, what Paul wants us to understand
o Is that
 This call to holiness here
 This call to distinction
 Is not an optional extra,
 It is a fundamental part
o Of the Christian identity:
 That we have been set
apart by God
 For God.

- It is the significance of our baptisms:

o The mark of the covenant that we are given

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 When we are born into this community of God’s

people,
 Of when we enter that community by
professing faith
o In Christ the King.
o Baptism is not a mere ritual,
 Not a nostalgic ceremony.
 It is a
o “sign and seal of the covenant
of grace.” (WCF 28: 1)
 That is to say
o That it not only signifies
 Or represents
 The forgiveness
of sins that we
have in Christ,
 The washing
with water
symbolizing the
removal of our
sin in Christ,
o But it is also a seal
 Of the covenant of
grace.

- Now, I used to get tripped up on that,

o Because when I read seal
 I thought of a hermetic seal
 The kind of seal
o That you find on the top of jars
 That stops anything
getting in,

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 And anything getting

out,
o And I struggled with that
 Because it is clearly not how baptism operates:
 It is clear
o That baptism does not stop
 The devil getting in
 To meddle with
the believer,
 And it is clear
o That it does not save the
baptized,
 They can “get out” of
the covenant
 By walking
away from
Christ.
- But you understand
o When the Confession says
 That baptism is a seal
 It is using that word
o In the sense of a King’s Seal.
 The Presidential Seal.
 Cf. “Instrument of Consent”
o Allowing Prince Harry to marry
Meghan Merkle
 Enormous seal attached
to the bottom.
o What the Westminster Confession of Faith
 Is saying
 Is that our baptisms
o Are like the stamps

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 Of King Jesus’ signet

ring upon us.
 Our baptisms point to and validate the
connection to the Savior.
- Our baptisms declare
o That we are Christs and He is Ours,
 In other words
 Our baptisms
o Represent
 Just as circumcision did
in the Old Testament,
 That we are a holy people
o Set apart
 To live under the good
and gracious Kingly Rule
of God.
- We are a fundamentally peculiar people.
o A holy people
 Set apart for God.

- But we so often don’t want to be.

o Almost all of us
 Want to be popular.
o Most of us
 Want to avoid awkward situations,
o And none of us
 Want to be persecuted for our faith.
- There is a strong pull
o For us
 To try and be as
 Un-peculiar as we can.
- We want to blend in.
o We want people to like us.

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 We want to be popular.
 We want to be thought well of in our
communities.
- But Paul circles round here
o To emphasize his point:
 That if we truly have been brought up from the
death of our sins
 And united to Christ,
o Then necessarily
 We are called to stand
distinct,
 We are called to live in
a different way.
 Even if that
means that we
are rejected
from our peer-
groups,
 Even if that
means, that we
lose out at
work,
 Or our
neighbors don’t
invite us over
any more.
- What Paul is calling us to here
o Is hard,
 But is essential.
- And so he repeats himself
o To drive this home.
- And in order to truly highlight it

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o For us
 In order to truly drive this into
 Our hard hearts,
o He ups the ante –
 Look at verse 11 and 12
 “Take not part
in the unfruitful
works of
darkness, but
instead expose
them. For it is
shameful even
to speak of the
things that they
do in secret.”
- He says
o This is so important
 That not only
 Should we be careful
o That we don’t join with
 The Gentiles
 The pagans
 In what they do
 But we shouldn’t even speak of it.
 What he is getting at
o Is that this self-centered way of
life
o This way of life
 That he has described
as darkness
 As opposed to the God
who is light

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o This way of life that will result

 (v. 6)
 In the wrath of God
o Is to be abhorrent to us.
 Not something we play with
 Or compromise with
o But something that we can’t
even really bring ourselves to
speak about.
- It is,
o Of course,
 An over-statement.
 Paul, himself, is here
o Speaking about such things,
 And he does so in other
places,
o And if we are to be
 Careful members of society
 Then we must
o On one level
 Speak of these things,
 So that we can help
each other avoid them.
 It is important
 That it be preached on
 That parents speak with their children
o About the contrasting
worldviews that they will
encounter,
 That we
o As brothers and sisters in Christ

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 Help one another

navigate
 This world
 So that we are
not deceived
o By
empty
words
(v. 6)
- But his point is
o That if we are children of light
 That is children of God,
 Then we must be
o As opposed to darkness
 As God is.
o We are called to love
 What he loves
 And to hate what he hates.
- And he hates
o A worldview
 That elevates
 The creature
o Over the Creator,
 And denies Him the
glory that He alone is
due,
o A worldview
 That seeks significance
 And salvation
o In some place other than in
Him.
- And so
o If we are united to Him,

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 If we are His sons (ch. 1)

 Then we must hate that too.
 We must adopt
o This radical approach to sin
 That has
 No part
 In the unfruitful
works of
darkness.

II. What does it mean?

- In verse 10
o Paul concludes
 His first pass at this
 By contrasting
o What the Christian ought not to
do
 With what the Christian
ought to do.

o In verse 10
 Paul had said
 That in contrast to
o What is pleasing
 To the sense-driven
world that surrounds us
 We are to be a people
 Who “try to discern what is pleasing to
the Lord.”

- And as Paul wraps up

o His emphatic repetition here
 He says the same thing

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 But he also tells more

o Of how we are to do that.

- V. 15
o “Look carefully then how you walk,
 Not as unwise but as wise,
 Making the best use of the time,
o Because the days are evil.”
o (that is what not to do:
 Don’t blindly walk through this world)
- V. 17
o “Therefore do not be foolish
 But understand what the will of the Lord is.”
 (that is essentially verse 10 repeated)

- And we see here

o This letter
 Operating as Wisdom Literature.
o This essentially
 The same argument
 That the Father
o In the Paternal Appeals
 At the beginning of the
book of Proverbs
makes.
 Those Appeals
 Compare and contrast
o A way of life
 Rooted in wisdom
 (that is a way of
life anchored to
Prov. 1: 7 “The
fear of the

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LORD is the
beginning of
wisdom”)
 That is to say
 A way of life
driven and
motivated
 By a covenantal
union with God
 A relationship
with God that
knows Him not
just as God
 But as Yahweh
 And all that
that name
contains
o And the way of life
 Rooted in the
foolishness of the here
and now.
- One of the things
o That the father
 In those Paternal Appeals
 Concedes
o Is that there is an appearance of
wisdom
 That comes with the
way of the fool:
 There is an allure, and
attractiveness

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 To their
worldview,
o But throughout
 The refrain is the same:
 That is hollow.
o And that the only way to truly
find joy and satisfaction and
peace and security
 Is to do the will of God.
 It is to apply the Law of
God
 To his life.
- That’s what Paul is doing
o Throughout this letter.
 And it is what he is doing here
 In vv. 15, 16 and 17:
o Pressing home to his readers
 That everything that he
has said so far
 Must result in a
way of life
 That is
characterized
by wisdom
 That is to say
 Characterized
by the
intentional and
deliberate
application of
the Law of God

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to the minutiae
of life.

- But with verses 18 and 19

o Paul then
 Drills down even further
o And having given us the principles
 He moves on to
 Help us understand
o How we are to do that,
 And his point
o In vv. 18 and 19
 Is that we are to do it
 In community.

- In v. 18
o Paul says
 “Therefore [which shows us that this is part of
one logical argument – this intimately
connected with what he has just said]
 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is
debauchery, but be filled with the
Spirit.”
- Now,
o How does that connect?
 It can be hard to see how it does.
 Especially when
o We look at v. 19
 “addressing one
another in psalms and
hymns and spiritual
songs,”
- Why the sudden

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o And specific mention of drunkenness?

 It seems
 Like a very specific application
o In the midst
 Of a general
 Philosophical
point
 That Paul is
making.
- But, you see,
o Paul has not gotten side-tracked.
o What he is referring to
 In verse 18
 Is not drunkenness in general
 But the drunkenness
o That was an essential
characteristic
 Of Pagan worship.
- Pagan worship ceremonies
o In the first century
 Commonly included
 Drunken orgies
o Ecstatic ceremonies
 That were supposed to
induce
 Some kind of
communion
with the
deities.
- That’s what Paul is referring to:
o That drunkenness
 That was a characteristic

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 Of the (v. 11) “unfruitful works of

darkness.”
- Paul mentions that here
o To set up verse 19.
 In contrast
 To that mind-less
o Sense-ual
 So-called
 “worship”
o Christians
 Are to be a people
 Who mind-fully, and Holy Spiritually
address one another
o In psalm and hymns and
spiritual songs,
 Singing and making
melody with their
hearts to the Lord
 And give thanks always
and for everything to
God the Father in the
name of our Lord Jesus
Christ.

- You see what he is doing?

o He has told us what to avoid:
 The ways and customs and practices
 Of the non-Christian world around us.
o He has told us what to pursue:
 The will of God
 What is pleasing to God
- But now
o Contrasting it to the pagan ceremonies

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 He shows us
 How to do it:
o By gathering together
o And pointing another to the
riches of the Gospel.

- We said
o When we looked
 At verse 10
o That the way to understand
 What is pleasing to the Lord
 Is to get to Scripture,

o But here
 We see
 The best way to do that
o Is in community.
 It is gathering together as Christians
 Not to lose our minds,
o But to mindfully,
 And purposefully
 Help each other
tease out and
apply all the
riches of the
Gospel
 That we can
give thanks to
God for.
- And the reason
o For this is
 That when we do this in community.
 As we gather together in community

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 Notice, not just singing together

o But addressing one another in
psalms and hymns and
spirituals songs,
 As we gather together in community
 To remember and celebrate this gospel
o We help each other
 To see different
nuances and beauties
 That we would
otherwise miss.
- C. S. Lewis
o In his book
 The Four Loves
 Illustrates this so well:

[Meditating on the effect that the death of Charles Williams has had on
the group of friends known as the Inklings, C. S. Lewis writes]

In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can
fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man
into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now
that Charles [Williams] is dead, I shall never again see Ronald [Tolkein’s]
reaction to a specifically Charles joke. Far from having more of Ronald,
having him ‘to myself’ now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald…
In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious ‘nearness by resemblance’ to
heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can
number) increases the fruition which each of us has of God. For every
soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique
vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in
Isaiah’s vision are crying ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ to one another (Isaiah 6: 3).
The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we
shall have.

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Conc.

- What Paul is calling us to here

o Is hard.
 It is hard to pursue a life
 Of such radical distinction from the
world around us
o that it is as different from that
world
 as light is different from
darkness.
- It is hard
o Because the constant noise of our world
 Preaches against it.
- It is hard
o Because there remains a part of our flesh
 That desires
 That dark way of life
o In which we once lived.
o We can be nostalgic
 For the old man.
- It is hard
o Because it comes with a cost:
 It will cost you relationships
 And influence
 It will cost you
 At times happiness.
- But it is essential.
o It is simply the calling that comes to us as Christians:
 As we have been brought out of the darkness
 And into the light
o Then we are to live in a way
that reflects that

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o To live as
 Children of light.
- And the only way
o That we can do it
 Is if we do it together.
 Helping each other
o To see different aspects
 Of the grace of God,
 And the wonder of the
Gospel.
o Your Quiet Time is important
 Your time of personal devotion is important
o But more important
 Is your participation in Christian community
 In which we can sing to one another
o Of the beauties
 Of Christ our Savior.

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