Scripture reading: Ephesians 5:1-14.

Sermon text: Ephesians 5:15-21.

“Higher standards.” Every society in history has maintained certain standards of behavior; standards it would tolerate, and those it idealized among its members. Every society upheld qualities such as self-control, courage, bravery, mercy, and graciousness among its members. The ancient stories of these societies taught their children the tales of men and women who held these standards even in the face of death or persecution. The stories also encouraged children to imitate the standards they witnessed in their heroes and heroines.

The early Church inherited the standards of Judaism from the Old Testament. St. Paul listed the practical application of these standards in his letter to the Ephesians. Everyone who reads chapters 4 through 6 of this book will find St. Paul’s expectations for Christian behavior far exceeds the standards of his time and of our society as well. 

St. Paul gave the Ephesian believers a very difficult assignment in verse 1, but the verses that follow all build on this command: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” The Greek word St. Paul uses as “imitators” gives us the English word “mimic.” Another term, known only to us old enough to remember, is “mimeograph.” Before computer printers made them obsolete, mimeograph machines served to make copies of important papers.

St. Paul wanted believers to imitate God. Every action we take, every opinion we hold, should meet this standard. As Christians, we must determine how God would act or think in a situation and then act or think in that way.

St. Paul reminded the Ephesians that they should “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” The love of Christ led Him to sacrifice His life for us on the cross and to experience death for us. When we love others as Christ loved us, we will imitate God and meet His standards in our lives.

Frankly, this has never been easy, either in the time of St. Paul or in any other time. Church history reads like a exhaustive list of failures, of times when Christians either failed to imitate God or outright defied His standards. Our failures do not in any way affect God’s expectations of us.

St. Paul then addressed the sexual standards of the Greco-Roman society of ancient Ephesus. Remember that Ephesus boasted the great temple of Artemis, the fertility goddess of ancient Greece. We learned a lot about the city’s standards when archaeologists found a tunnel from the public library to a nearby brothel; the brothel’s patrons would tell their families — including their wives — they were going to the library.

St. Paul wrote, “Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.” The term “sexual immorality” gives us the word “pornography.” The term “impurity” refers to moral filth, i.e. those whose morals do not meet the standard of love we must imitate.

Remember that St. Paul, as a Jew, knew the sexual standards of the Old Testament. When Jesus instructed the Apostles in His teachings, He clearly taught that certain practices between humans must occur only in the boundaries of a lifelong, monogamous heterosexual relationship. Jesus never taught another standard, even by omission. Many people today try to say, “Jesus never condemned certain sexual practices; only St. Paul condemned them.” We must never forget that, as a first-century Jew, ministering to Jews, that Jesus didn’t have to address many types of sexual immorality; He knew the standards, and He knew His audiences knew the standards. The Apostles, including St. Paul, expected believers to uphold those standards.

Let us be clear: As Christians, we must live by God’s standards. The results of immorality demonstrate whether we have believed in Jesus or not. If we confess Jesus as Lord, we must live by His standards, not by our own opinions or those of anyone else. St. Paul put it bluntly, and the words still apply: “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.”

The standards of God extend into our speech as well. “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”  “Filthiness” involves speech that speaks of impurity or immorality. “Foolish talk” reminds us that, as believers, we must seek wisdom and speak wisely in every conversation. “Crude joking” refers to indecent humor. Instead, St. Paul wrote, “Let there be thanksgiving.” Words that give praise to God will uphold His standards and bless those around us. Our society desperately needs to hear blessings. People around us can hear indecency almost anywhere now, but they will hear blessing and thanksgiving only from believers.

Wise speech that blesses others will also help us avoid “empty words,” or speech that tries to lead others down false paths. I’m reminded of Solomon’s warning in Ecclesiastes, “Let your words be few” (Ecclesiastes 5:2). Empty words never bless people, because they always lead people away from the truths of Scripture and the truths of salvation in Jesus, Our Lord.

At one time, believers walked in “darkness,” but now we must lives as “light in the Lord.” We must “walk as children of light … and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.” Once we discern what pleases Our Lord, we must do those actions. Rather than doing “unfruitful works of darkness,” those things that bring shame to us and to God, we should “walk not as unwise but as wise.” Everything we do should demonstrate that we “understand what the will of the Lord is.”

St. Paul instructed the Ephesian believers, “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” I’ve told you before that I’ve seen drunk people do memorable things on the weekend and then spend the next week hoping everyone would forget what they did. Rather than risk dishonor and shame through drunkenness, St. Paul encouraged the Ephesians to speak to “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, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” I remember some interesting conversations with inebriated people while in college, but none of those conversations lifted me spiritually, intellectually, or emotionally like the speech of God’s people, drawn from the Scriptures (especially the Psalms) and from the hymns of the Church.

In all that St. Paul mentioned in this passage, I believe we must focus most intensely on his command to walk in love as Christ loved us. Many of the moral values of the world, values extolled by people consumed by lust, pride, and greed, do not reflect Christian love; they reflect the qualities St. Paul condemned. If we love others as Christ loves them, we’ll not lust after others; nor will we covet what they have, and we’ll not act selfishly toward them.

We must remember that, as believers, we once walked in the darkness the world mistakenly teaches as “enlightenment.” I’ve noticed that children often to the expectations of their parents; if their parents expect much, children give much. Even as we live to a higher standard, we must love them and demonstrate the benefits of the higher standards to which God has called His children.

How will we meet these standards? How will we stand against the temptations that surround us? We will uphold God’s standards by the strength of Christ, the strength that conquered sin on the cross and death in the empty tomb. When we believe in Jesus, He received us into the family, not as servants, but as children (Romans 8:16-17). The Holy Spirit indwells us to give us strength and bring us to a new relationship with God, a relationship with all the privileges of His power and love. Live in that strength; live in that love, and pour that love into the lives of everyone around you. Let them see you imitate God as you bless them and live wisely among them. Let them come to praise God for your presence in their lives as His beloved children.