Ephesians - Lesson 26

Paul gives us this warning here to say, if you don't live in a way worthy of God's calling, then we will not inherit the kingdom of Christ of God. And notice how he frames that there. It's another interesting use here of a package.

The question is, is he saying the kingdom of Christ who is God? Or is he saying the kingdom of Christ, referring to Jesus, and God the Father? You know, in context, based on what he has said about Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father, he's distinguished between these two. One could say, however, that because you have, what's in the Greek, you have an article before Christ separated by a conjunction, no article before God, one could make the argument, Christ, that is God. My only point would be that Christ is God, regardless of whether or not he's making that point here, but he's God the Son.

And in Ephesians, he's emphasized theos, to talk about God the Father. So all that to say, the basic point he wants us to understand is, is that God's kingdom and Christ's kingdom are the same kingdom. Jesus is the Messiah.

God is the Father. Jesus is also God. And that kingdom, which is already here, not yet fully realized, is ours.

If we walk in a manner worthy of our calling. And we will walk in a manner worthy of our calling if we have genuine saving faith, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. So let no one deceive you with empty words, verse 6, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Because of what things? Because of these things, God's wrath comes upon the sons of disobedience.

The sons of disobedience, Paul mentions in Ephesians chapter 2, when he says we were dead in trespasses and sins, we walk in accordance with the sons of disobedience. So whatever that these things refer to, they're linked with patterns of disobedience. It seems to me in the context that these things refer back to the pattern of living that he's mentioned in the previous verses, not simply to the empty words, but the empty words and everything else that he's mentioned.

So because of these ungodly things, these ungodly behavior, though this ungodly behavior, this pattern of living that's contrary to the gospel, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, verse 7, this is my paraphrase, do not live like the sons of disobedience, because if you do, you'll suffer the wrath of God. Like this is a matter of heaven or hell.

A person who professes to know Jesus and yet chooses to live an ungodly life has no confidence that he or she will be saved. There's no assurance there. The only assurance that one has is if one is living a life pleasing to God, because that is the proof that one is trusting in Jesus.

As the old saying goes, talk is cheap. We must practice what we preach. We don't do that perfectly.

But Paul says we better do it. It's not optional. Obedience is not something to which you graduate in the third semester of the Christian life.

It's something that comes embedded within the gospel. God transforms us through the gospel and enables us to live in obedience to it. And so therefore, do not be partakers with the sons of disobedience.

Because verse 8, at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. So walk as children of light. You see how Paul just keeps repeating himself, 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. You have to think, have sound judgment, patiently pursue God. Verse 11, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness.

Don't live as sons of darkness enslaved to the ways of the anti-God powers, but instead expose them, expose the unfruitful works of darkness. For it is shameful, verse 12, 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, he gives us this quote here, awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. So what's he calling them to do? He's calling them very simply to be godly, to be holy, to live a godly life.

Verse 15, he repeats himself again. Look carefully then how you walk. Analyze how you walk.

Be very careful. Don't live a reckless life. Carefully evaluate the decisions that you make.

Think about the consequences before you make those decisions. Ask yourself, what does God think about what I'm about to say, what I'm about to do, how I'm about to do it? Everything that we do, how we live, how we move, how we have our being in this world needs to be carefully evaluated in light of God's gospel about Jesus Christ. Don't be unwise.

To be unwise means to live an ungodly life. Look at Proverbs, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom is linked not with intellectual ability.

Wisdom is linked to fearing God, which manifests itself by a life lived in devotion to God. Be not unwise, but be wise. Making the best use of the time because the days are evil.

That word for making the best use in the ESV, it's actually the word for redemption. It's a Greek term that means to redeem, redeeming the time. I think that basically means live redemptively, walk in the light, use our time in a way that pleases God.

I think it pleases God when I enjoy a UK basketball game. There's nothing sinful about that. He's created basketball and those athletes can glorify God by demonstrating their ability as human beings whom God has given the ability to perform these unusual acts by dunking a basketball, shooting a three-pointer, and there's nothing inherently evil about enjoying a basketball game.

I can redeem the time, live redemptively in everything you do, do all things for the glory of God, Paul says in 1 Corinthians. If you eat or if you drink, do all things, live redemptively, live in a way that manifests your walking in the light, whether you are in church or at home at a basketball game, at a movie, on the beach, live redemptively, live like, in other words, redeemed people. I don't think he's simply saying don't waste time by watching too much TV.

I think he's saying live redemptively, live as though you're a son or daughter of the light because the days are evil. So even when you're doing something, practically speaking, like at a UK basketball game, you can do something at a UK basketball game that manifests you're a child of God. You can be a witness even there by walking in the light.

That's my point. It doesn't mean you talk to someone at the game the whole time about theology and distract away from watching the game. It means you are carrying yourself in a way that shows you're walking in the light.

Live redemptively. Therefore, verse 17, do not be foolish, don't live in an unwise way, but understand what the will of the Lord is. God's will for your and my life is at least this, be godly.

That's what he said. When we think about God's will, God's will is complex. We think about God's decreed will.

He determines things to happen, God's permissive will, he allows things to happen, some say. Some theologians also talk about God's secret will, things that only God knows. We can't always figure out what God's will is for our lives as his will relates to specific things, such as what person should we marry, what job should we take, what school should we attend, where should we buy a house, what kind of car should we buy.

That's not always clear. Those are all important questions as well. But what is absolutely clear as it relates to God's will for our lives is it is the Lord's will for us to be godly.

How do you know that? He has spent numerous verses telling us that. God has revealed to us he wants us to walk in a manner worthy of his calling. Paul says it this way in the Thessalonian letters.

He says, this is God's will for you, namely your sanctification. You don't have to pray and say, Lord, should I be sanctified today or not? It's God's will. You should pray, Lord, help me to live in a sanctified way.

You don't have to say, Lord, should I slander this person or not? No, the answer is no, don't slander. You need to say, Lord, I want to slander. Be honest.

I want to slander. I want to be unrighteously angry, but God help me not to do that. And then you obey.

And then he says in verse 18, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery or reckless living. It's another way to think about it. But be filled with the Spirit of God.

See, drunkenness here is contrasted with being filled with the Spirit. The Spirit empowered, Spirit filled life manifests itself in multiple ways. One way is by means of self-control.

Verse 19, addressing one another. So these next few verses here, Paul is going to give us in verse 19, 1, 2, verse 20, 3, and then verse 21, 4, what are participles in Greek, which link back to being filled, being filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit.

Here are some examples of what that would look like. Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. And this pattern of living is contrasted with walking in darkness.

It would be contrasted with the pattern of life that these Gentiles could have been familiar with in terms of how they reacted or interacted with each other at pagan feasts or banquets. And Paul is exhorting them to live in a godly way and how they interact with each other. Psalms, spiritual songs, singing.

I think he's talking about in the context of Christian community here. I don't think he's saying, well, I should walk up to a Christian today on the street and just start singing to them. That would be kind of weird.

But in the context of Christian community, what should church look like? Not people fighting and bickering and slandering and gossiping. It should look like people who sing songs to each other, who sing praises to God with each other, who give thanks with one another to God, and who submit to one another out of reverence for Jesus Christ. So Paul is basically giving them a series of exhortations, and these exhortations continue into the next section about how to walk in a manner worthy of God's calling, how to live a godly life.

Questions? Man 1 I'm not sure how to live redemptively at a basketball game, but I do know how to live unredemptively at a basketball game. That's really easy. If there's a ref, it's going to be unredemptive.

My question is, I mean, I think you're right. I mean, it's some...being justified and sanctified are two sides of the same coin. They're different actions.

One, you don't participate, and the other one, you do participate. I mean, Christians have to change. People have changed lives.

That's just the way it is. Why do you think the cheap grace movement has gained such weight in so many people that how you live your life is irrelevant? First time I ever got kicked out of a church was because I thought if you're a Christian, you need to live it. And the pastor was wholly opposed to that and did not want anything to do with connecting godly living with being saved.

That's a good question. I wonder if because some people might think to require obedience as necessary, as a necessary part of inheriting the kingdom of God, they might think that undermines the free offer of grace in the gospel. And what I'm trying to say, I think this is what Shriner is saying in some of the work he's done, is that absolutely justification by faith and sanctification are two separate theological categories.

They're two different categories. You're justified by faith in Christ apart from works of the law. But sanctification, however, is one of those sociological benefits that happens to us because of the gospel.

The good news of the gospel justifies us, but it also sanctifies us. And you have Paul giving you these warnings to serve as a motivation to live in a godly way. We are justified by faith.

We will be saved on the last day because we're saved now, but we need some motivation to get there. What's the motivation? Well, the spirit enables us. And then there's a warning and the spirit uses the warning.

And those who do not persevere and obey the gospel, they disobey and they fail to persevere because they were never truly justified by faith. And I don't think there are people who have categories for that sort of sociology. They think, well, if you're really saved, then there's no responsibility to obey.

But Paul seems to have a great deal to say in Jesus as well. The gospel of Matthew, Jesus uses the language of you'll be condemned by what you say or you'll be not condemned by what you say. And he's talking about the heart.

The heart is what condemns you, but the heart reflects what you say, what you do. So I think that's perhaps one reason is that there are those who might be inclined to think. To emphasize obedience as necessary for final salvation undermines the free offer of grace in the gospel.

But I don't see that premise anywhere in the New Testament. I think this is the question of the age in the American church today, because so many of the issues in church are related to people thinking that I raised my hand at camp, I went forward, I can live any way I want, and I got my get out of hell free card, as one person says it. And then there's another version that says, well, the only reason to do good things is you get more rewards in heaven.

I had one person say to me, well, this church preaches rewards. What do you preach in terms of motivation for Godly living? And I said, what about heaven and hell? I think that's a pretty good motivation. But it was like you get these, I think, twisted theologies that results in a vacuous church in most cases.

So, yeah, but it's amazing to me how clear it is of what you're saying. Charles Yeah. Let me give you, thank you for that.

Let me give you two texts from Paul on this point. So 1 Corinthians 15 passage again, he doesn't say kingdom of God language there, but 1 Corinthians 15 one and following talks about the gospel that he preached in which they stand, by which they are saved if they hold fast the word that he preached to them, unless they believe in vain. Which Paul, which is Paul's way of saying they never truly had saving faith to believe in vain means you don't have saving faith, but you're saved, you're saved if you persevere.

And what he means is those who are really saved will persevere. The Galatians 5 passage verse 21 is similar to the Ephesians passage because he mentions the kingdom of God, but he uses the verb to reign. No, I'm sorry, I'm wrong.

He uses the verb for to inherit and he uses the noun kingdom of God. So in Ephesians is it's, you have no inheritance in the kingdom of God and Christ. If you live in an ungodly way in Galatians, he gives you the fruit of the spirit, the, the, the works of the flesh, less of the flesh, walking the spirit, not, not, not, not, uh, and, uh, and the less of the flesh.

And then he says, as after he gives you this list of these, these vice list, he says, which I say to you again, just as I said beforehand, which tells me that Paul talked about this a lot to them. You better obey. You better obey.

If it's real, you better obey. Here's what he said to him that those who practice these things or such things, the things that he's referring to are the less of the flesh. Those who practice the less of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God.

He says this in a section where he begins 513 through 610. He gives you this section where he emphasizes living in the freedom of the gospel by showing love for God and for neighbor. And then he starts talking about walking in the spirit.

And if you don't do that, you're not going to go to heaven when he's talked about being justified by faith in 216. So he's not contradicting himself and he doesn't have a convoluted sociology. It just is for him.

Everyone who has genuine saving faith manifests that by means of walking in a spirit and power way. It makes, it makes sense. Really.

If you don't walk in the spirit, then you don't have the spirit. If the Messianic age ushers in the spirit and you're not living in compliance with the spirit's design for your life, then you're, you have no union with the Messiah. So you will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But if you are a believer who, who is walking contrary to the spirit, the warning comes to you and it makes you say, Oh, I better stop being disobedient and get on the path of the spirit. And the Lord uses that to motivate us to persevere. And we will inherit the kingdom of God because we're truly saved.

But I think there are people who don't, who don't like that kind of sociology and when they want to, they want to do the simple to pray the prayer and then, uh, and then do what we want to do. So one element of how we talk and being kind to each other is the element of how we use humor with people. Because if we're sarcastic and use our humor to emphasize things that are destructive to people or think that we can get people to laugh at someone because of what we say, then it becomes really destructive.

And if we just take a minute to think about what we're going to say and use humor in a way that encourages people and builds them up, it makes, it causes a way different atmosphere in how we speak to people and in how our thought processes go. Yeah, that's good. I like that.

Yeah. I, um, I love, I love being around people who have a good sense of humor and who know how to, to laugh in a healthy way and who, who, who know how to poke fun at me in a way that builds me up, not in a way that tears me down. And who also know how to self deprecate in a way that's not, um, false humility.

Um, you know, that's a, that's a gift. I think, uh, I remember when I was, um, when my, when I lost my aunt, when she died, it was a hard time. She was like my mother and, and it was just hard to, to, to work through that grief.

And one thing I realized that I needed to do was my wife and I needed to have some, some friends over from our church that were really funny. And we knew when we had them over, they would make us laugh. And, and so we had them over for dinner and they knew about the death of my aunt.

They'd been praying for me in that. And we laughed for two or three hours about life, about different things. We had shared a meal.

And after that was over, I felt more encouraged than after that evening, more encouraged than I'd felt in a long time because of an appropriate use of humor and how the Lord used words in a humorous way to help build up. Nothing was inappropriate. It was just all just laughing about life, laughing about ourselves.

Um, yeah, that's a gift. But then to the, to the contrary to that, when you have, when, when people use humor to tear down, to make themselves feel big, yeah, that can really destroy and divide the body. Yeah.

You know, a healthy use of sarcasm is effective only when it's used appropriately, not constantly. I have a hard time having a conversation with someone with whom every single sentence is a sarcastic statement. I just, I can't, I don't even dialogue with people who are like that.

It's exhausting. You may have addressed this already in your previous question, but, but here it is. It has to do with Ephesians 5, 5 and the language in it.

Uh, for you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. And so I was thinking of Paul's letter to the Corinthians, to these people who, uh, in my understanding are believers. They, they have been born again, but he's quite upset with them for the way they're living.

And, uh, I mean, they seem to be like sexual, living sexually and morally and so forth, but he calls them brethren or brothers. And, uh, so here's my question. Could it be where it says has no inheritance in the kingdom of God, could that be referring to loss of reward instead of loss of salvation? But that's sort of my question.

Uh, I don't know the answer to it, but because, you know, in Corinthians, he also talks about loss of reward or, or your works that are not done properly, they will get burned up like wood, hay and stubble. Yeah. And I was just wondering if you had any comments on that.

Yes. Good. Very good question.

Yeah. I, I, um, so I think there's another option. Um, in addition to the ones that you mentioned, I don't, I don't think he's talking about loss of, uh, salvation.

I'm a, I'm a card carrying Calvinist. Uh, and I don't think he's thinking, uh, of loss of rewards in heaven. I think the inheritance is the reward.

It's, it's, it's the kingdom. So I think what he's saying, if you take the inheritance language back to chapter one, he talks about us being predestined and all, and these things, and then how we are redeemed, uh, for this inheritance, we received a portion of this inheritance and this inheritance relates to, I think it is the kingdom and the totality of what God has done for us in Christ, including the kingdom of God coming. So maybe it is true.

I need to think about this more. Maybe it is true. Based on the first Corinthians passage, especially there, there is a concept of rewards in heaven.

Maybe that, maybe that's true. But I wonder here, if the, if the issue is, if you live in an ungodly way, you're not going to inherit the kingdom because you don't have the spirit and the kingdom is linked to the Messiah and the Messiah ushers in the age of the spirit. So he can't, Paul has no concept.

I don't think of kingdom apart from the Messiah and the spirit here. So if these folks are walking as sons of darkness, refusing to walk in a manner worthy of their calling, it's only because they don't have the spirit. The first Corinthians passage of this, that's a hard one because it talks about, uh, I'm not going to get the exact quotation right, but I think it's around chapter three, isn't it? Where he talks about, uh, uh, wood, hay stubble, uh, gold and silver.

Yeah. That's a hard passage for me. I need to still think about what I think about that.

And then Jesus uses language. It sounds like, uh, rewards in heaven when he talks about people receiving certain, uh, amount of, um, not stripes, but, uh, we're not sort of like, uh, uh, lashes or, or yeah. How was it? Less lashes.

Yes. So that's the negative. Yeah.

Yeah. So some people might read sort of a rewards thing there, but I don't think that's what he's saying here. I think he's saying, if you're in the kingdom, you live like you're in the kingdom.

And if you're living contrary to the kingdom, you're not going to inherit it. Only those who have the spirit inherit the kingdom. Yeah.

But, but see the, the, the point to that I want to make is, is that for Paul, in my, in my reading, that is not a lose your salvation point. That is you never had salvation and you're proving that by how you're living your life. And, and sometimes folks who do the Christian thing, but aren't really saved, they just sort of do church.

Sometimes they show they're not saved in this life by just walking away and never coming back or by just simply doing church and never living a Godly life. But on the day of judgment, uh, the, the sheep and the goat will be separated. And it would become plain when all things were brought to the light, who was really in and who's really out.

And Paul's giving us a good indicator of who's in the kingdom of those of us who walk in the light.