Ephesians Part 8 - Imitators of God

Mark: Excited to get in the word with you. We're gonna be in Ephesians 5. If you have your Bibles, we're gonna jump right in. We have 21 verses to cover today. So we'll see how far we get. Hopefully, we'll go the whole way. That's my assignment for this morning. Ephesians 5. So if you turn there, we're gonna start from verse 1. Pastor Josh sent his love, his greetings. He is ⁓ on his sabbatical right now, but he misses you guys. So he just told me to send his love to everybody. So here's his love to you. all right, 21 verses. We're gonna jump right in. this is a lot of ground to cover. So we're gonna read the whole passage and then I'm gonna come back and work through the different sections, okay? And hopefully I'll get you out of here by two PM. We have the World Cup final today at 2 PM. Have you guys been watching that? So so? Yes, okay, okay. I'm so glad America is finally getting into real football. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, easy, easy, easy. ⁓ man. Okay, Ephesians 5, let's go in there. ⁓ some time ago I was preaching to a college football team. And I was in this room, and you walk in, and I was down there, and there's this maybe a hundred big guys sitting in there, and I'm preaching to them, and I made a joke about how I played the real football. And I just remember looking to the room, and there's like a hundred big dudes, and the exit's all the way over there. I'm like. I better stop right now. No, it's funny. It's just a joke, guys. Just a joke. Okay, Ephesians 5. We're gonna read it and then work through it. So I won't do a lot of recap. We've been working through it for a few weeks now, and ⁓ Pastor Josh presented the book to us early on as like three sections: sit, walk, and stand. There are ⁓ a couple other ways that scholars go about it. Some of them say it's like the doctrine. And the duty and the difficulties of a Christian. The three sections. If you want to take notes, the doctrine, who we are, who God is, the duty, what we are to do, and then the difficulties. Other people will say that it is the wealth of the Christian, the walk of the Christian, and the warfare of the Christian. And we have talked about the sit, the walk, and stand. So it's like our identity. Then how we operate from that identity and then our stand before God and before the world, before ⁓ the spiritual realm and all of those things. So today here in chapter five, we're talking about the walk. So I'm gonna start from verse one, we're gonna go until verse twenty one. Here we go. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. Walk in love as Christ 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 in 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 become partners 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 the 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 arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. But be filled with the Spirit, 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, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, this is your word. This is truth, inspired truth, breathed upon truth. Today we just pray, Lord, that you would breathe through these words. That you would speak to us exactly where we are right now, right here today in Springfield, Missouri, all the different walks of life that are in this room and beyond and watching us. And you have a word for us today. Give us ears to hear, give us eyes to see, give us a heart to know you. I pray that you would reveal Christ. You would reveal who we are, you would reveal the things you have for us to walk in. That you would encourage us in the faith. Grant us grace and power to live this out as we seek to imitate God. We need you. Holy Spirit, come, we need you. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, let's start from verses one and two right here. Paul opens up with quite a charge. He says, Therefore, be imitators of God. As beloved children. Like, all right, Paul. Is that everything you want for me? To imitate God? Cool, I got it. No big deal. Imitate God? Is that ⁓ you're gonna tell me that okay, imitate God, me, little me, imitate God. Human me. Little Diego, full of failures and flaws. To imitate God. So one would get up from that charge and say, okay, Paul, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna give it a shot. And then as you go about life and you try to imitate God, a couple questions would arise right away. The first question would be How am I supposed to imitate a God who is in many ways invisible? Paul himself in First Timothy chapter one said, He is a God who is invisible. He deserves all glory, but he says that. So how am I supposed to imitate a God who is in many ways invisible? That would be a question as I went about my life trying to imitate him. Another question that would come is, how am I supposed to imitate God when God is divine and I am human? It's a fair question, right? How can I in my humanity imitate God who is divine? So Paul would hear those questions if you were asking it straight to him and he would say, Yes, great questions. I want you to read another letter of mine. And he would say, Go to Colossians 1. And you asked him, how are we supposed to imitate a God who is in so many ways invisible? He would say, go to Colossians 1. In Colossians 1, Paul writes famously, he says, Christ is the image of the invisible God. So in Christ God became visible. How are we supposed to imitate a God who is in many ways invisible? In Christ, He has disclosed who He is perfectly. Perfectly. Paul would also go on to say that the fullness of deity was pleased to dwell in him. The author of Hebrews would say that the perfect representation of the Father was in him. And as this letter says that we are to imitate him as beloved children, Jesus said that if we see him, we see the Father. Remember, they came to him and said, Jesus, show us the Father. And he said, Hey, you've been seeing him. They thought, well, the Father is invisible. But Jesus said, If you see me, you see the Father. We are able to know the heart of the Father, the character of the Father, the nature of the Father, the ways of the Father through the life of Jesus. The second question: how can I, as a human being, imitate God who is divine? And the answer is virtually the same. Christ. It turns out that Christ is the answer to many of the most important questions. Like we thought in Sunday school, right? In kids' church, Christ is the answer to the most important questions. How am I supposed to imitate God in my humanity when God is divine? God became a man. So in Christ, we see what godliness looks like inside of humanity. So in Christ, we know what holiness looks like with human hands. So in Christ, we can both know who to imitate, and we can both know what godliness looks like inside of our humanity, inside of flesh and bone. That's the mystery and the wonder of the incarnation. That God disclosed who he is and he came as a man. Me, little me, man. I can look at a man who is God, but who is walked the earth as a man, and I can see what the Father looks like and how he would walk and what he would do and how he would speak, and I can imitate him, Jesus of Nazareth, the Jesus of the Bible, who I get to know through the Holy Spirit. And as I read the word and he is revealed to me, the more I know, the more I get to imitate, the more I imitate, the more I become like him. And what a vision for our lives. That we would not only read about him or study him or know of him, but we would now get what we know of him and seek to assimilate and imitate and live that out. And that's what Paul is saying. Hey, it's not just about knowing about, you get to know him so that you can imitate him. And when you imitate him, you glorify him. And you actually live the fullness, the purpose of why you are alive. So he's saying to the Ephesians, guys, Jesus has purchased salvation and freedom and forgiveness, all of that. But more than just being a ticket to those things, he's also meant to be your way of life. Everything you know about Jesus, you're meant to try to assimilate that into your life. We can say in these two verses for the whole morning. But that's the purpose of Bible reading, of devotional time, of coming to church, of worship, is to know him, not only so that we can acquire information, but so that we can become more like him. And the more we behold him, the more we can become like him. It was this saint about a thousand years ago, Saint Claire of Assisi. She's from the ⁓ Francis of Assisi, that the order, a saintly woman, and she wrote this beautiful charge that a lot of the Franciscan ⁓ leaders still walk by. It's it's ⁓ it's a charge and an invitation. And here's what she said. She said To gaze, to consider, to contemplate, desiring to imitate. They still live that out to gaze, consider, to contemplate, desiring to imitate. So imitation begins with contemplation. You see what she's getting at right here? In order to imitate someone, you have to become acquainted with their ways, with their minnerisms. If you go to those professional impersonators, they will tell you the same thing. You have to contemplate. You have to gaze, you have to spend time, you have to consider. So that you can imitate. And that's the purpose of contemplation so that we can imitate, so that we can become like him. And to imitate him is about more than just to honor, respect, listen to, or even worship him, although all those things are good, but to imitate him is to now assimilate everything we know about him into our lives. As if we were to bring back those wristbands. What would Jesus do? W W J D, you know, throw back, some of you. Bring them back. Come on. But what a vision for us, guys. I don't think I can say enough about this. We have a lot of ground to cover, but what a vision that we would spend our lives trying to do this to become like Christ. That's the call, the Christian life. That we would get obsessed with Jesus. That we would start to open up scriptures and not just check off our little time, but to look for him in it. You know that he said that scriptures speak about me. And on the road to Emmaus, he told the disciples that the law and Moses and the prophets, all of them spoke about him. So when we open the book, we can open our hearts and say, show me Jesus here. No matter where you are, from Genesis to Revelation, show me Jesus here. And I want to see him. And this is the greatest joy and the greatest pursuit of our lives, to spend time with him, to listen to him, to worship him, to be in silence with him. That's the call. And this last week we celebrated the life of really precious man. A lot of you guys know Jack Cole. He went to be with the Lord this last week, and there's a man of God, a godly man. He lived here in this church for many, many years and worshiped God with us and prayed for people and blessed people and prophesied over people. And he was just such a joyful servant of Jesus. And we got to celebrate his life. And I sat there just pondering and thinking: Jack got to his 50s and he still sought Jesus. He got to his sixties and he didn't cruise and retire. He got to his seventies and he was still praying and blessing people. He got to his eighties, he's still in prayer and in worship. He got to his nineties, everything he talked about was about Jesus. What a vision for us. We got one lifetime and one target. To know him, to imitate him, to walk like he walked, and to glorify. And if that's the vision, I have a lot to grow. We read in Ephesians 4 where it says that the fullness of maturity is the stature of Christ. Or right here it says that we are to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. So if maturity is to walk in the kind of love that Jesus walked, I have a lot of growth to do. I don't know about you. A lot. But just because it is challenging, it does not give us permission to change the assignment. That is the charge. To become like him. Until Christ becomes more dear to us than anything this world can offer. That's the go. Amen. And the thing is, you see a Paul is giving us a charge here to imitate God. He says, walk as Christ, which Christ is the answer, as we just discussed. God does not ask us to do anything that Christ hasn't done for us before. When he asks us to do something, it's because Christ has already done it for us and he will enable us to do it in him. And so he goes on here to contrast this walk in love with a different kind of walk who is not a walk in love. In verse three, he says sexual immorality, 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, who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God. How does he go into all of that? It's important for us to ponder. He's talking to the Ephesians, where sexual immorality was not only accepted, but it was encouraged, it was celebrated, and it was done even in the name of a God that they had in their city. And so he's telling them about this new way of life, and he's saying, Hey, you may have been in those practices before, but it just doesn't fit your new life anymore. And you see, when Paul is saying sexual immorality here is not fitting for you as is proper among saints, what is Paul doing here? He's saying, When you do these things, when you don't do these things, then you will become saints. No, what he's saying is, since you are saints. You should no longer do these things. So you see the difference. He's saying, raise your behavior to your identity. Raise the level of your behavior, your life, your walk to who you already are in Christ. It was said here before this quote from Keller said that Christian ethics start with Christian identity. And so he spent chapters one through three right here teaching us who we are. He gets to four and five. He's like, guys, now. Let's get higher. Let's lift up our lives to who we are in Christ. We are seated with Him, but now it's time that we live like It. And that's true accountability, isn't it? Accountability is not just the ability to tell people when they're wrong. Accountability is the heart to remind them of who they really are. A lot of accountability is just like telling people, ⁓ this is wrong. Yes, but they keep doing what's wrong. They need to know who they are. And so Paul is bringing biblical accountability to the church and saying, guys, this is no longer fitting for saints. You may have done that before. It may have been okay in your circles, in your workplaces, in your family life, in your parents' life, but in your life, now that you are in the light, that you are in Christ, it no longer fits. Because if you're gonna walk in love, love is not going that direction. Imagine that love is a road. That road is not leading to sexual immorality, trust me. As a matter of fact, sexual immorality is in a lot of ways the opposite of sacrificial love. Sexual immorality is all about what I can get, what I can take, how I can be served, not about how I serve others, how I prefer, how I love, how I sacrifice. Sexual immorality is about using instead of blessing. So Paul is saying, hey, if you're gonna walk in love and imitate God, you're not gonna go that route anymore. Because it's not proper to saints, and you are saints. So let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. So what is he doing here? He's painting a picture. You know, this word sexual immorality, let me just spend some time here. This word sexual immorality is translated as the word fornication. And that essentially means sexual activity that happens outside of the lifelong covenant of marriage between a man and a woman. So fornication, all the sexual activity outside of their lifelong commitment between a man and a woman. Marriage. So he's saying fornication here. It's no longer feeding. He says, but actually let there be thanksgiving. What is he saying? I think Paul is painting a picture of God's design for sexual activity. And he's saying, within the right context and within the covenant of marriage, you should give thanks. But outside of it, it no longer fits. Do you see? This word, sexual immorality, fornication, is translated here from the Greek, and this word is the word pornea. What does that sound like? We all know the word. So, this is the society they lived in in Ephesus. And Paul is having to teach them, hey guys, this may be celebrated out there, it may be okay out there, but in the kingdom of light, it is no longer fitting. Does that sound familiar? And a lot of people will come around and will say, Well, the Bible doesn't really say much about that. Not true. There is a lot of teaching in the Bible. Paul himself in Colossians, in Ephesians, in Galatians, in Thessalonians. And then Luke and Acts, and then John and Revelation, they all refer to the same word pornea, and it says this does not fit the sons and daughters of God. There's a lot of teaching. And so here's a picture that God painted for proper sexuality. In the garden, he created man and woman. And out of one, he made two. And then he said, Out of these two, they shall become one. So there's a union that comes. And he instituted marriage as this God-designed beautiful vision for life. He reserved that union that happens through sexual activity, which is a gift from God, to be protected by the highest level of commitment. I want you to understand this. Listen closely. He reserved the highest level of intimacy to the highest level of commitment. So when God is teaching us, he's not just trying to be restrictive, he's trying to protect the gift for our own sake, because outside of it, It is destructive and painful, and it causes so much brokenness. And so that's the teaching and the biblical vision for sexual activity within the context of marriage. It is a gift and you should give thanks for it. And he says, For you may be sure of this that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, covers, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. And he calls that ⁓ idolatry, which essentially is saying somebody is deliberately choosing to live outside of God's design and elevate something above what God has said for us to do. That is a idolatry. And now, listen, to some of us in this room and beyond watching online, this may have been how we lived before. And Christ is still doing a beautiful work to redeem, to forgive, to heal, to restore. But today, We get to depart from the way of the world and we get to live in the way of Christ. And he has so much mercy for it. But we have to remember when he met the adulterous woman, the woman caught in adultery, he had so much mercy for her. He welcomed her. Said, Hey, come, I forgive you. But what did he tell her afterwards? Go and sin no more. So let that be our attitude. We can receive forgiveness in him, but we get up and we say, I can go and sin no more. Amen. I like to think of it as like a fire. It's a good picture. And here's why. Fire is such a fascinating thing. We look at fire in a fire pit and we are fascinated, and it's just drawing to our eyes, and we we see, and it's beautiful, and it's powerful, and there's so much that we can gain from fire. For example, we can be warmed by fire, or we can receive light from fire, or we can cook with fire. When the fire is in the fireplace or the fire pit or on your stove, it is powerful and it's beautiful. But get that log out of the fireplace and throw it on your couch. All of a sudden that same fire is now destructive. So let's keep the fire in the fireplace. That's where the beauty and the power is. Amen. So that's why Paul is teaching here. He's teaching them about God's vision for this. And he goes on to say, let no one deceive you with empty words. I want to just pause here. Empty words. These are words that are vein of substance. They are human thinking. They don't have actual godly wisdom in them, they're just empty. I think we have a lot of that nowadays because we have so many voices. You can go to your YouTube or your podcast, and you can hear a million voices. And they may sound godly, but they have a content that lacks substance from the truth. And we may face these things. Our children may face these things, these voices that are out there saying, God never spoke about this. ⁓ Jesus never taught this. It's okay. It's just an old thing. It's just Paul is already warning the church, let no one deceive you with empty words. This is gonna lead to destruction. Listen, friends, Jesus in Matthew 19 and in Mark 10 taught on marriage. And he elevated the standard and said, just like in Genesis 3, God created man and woman, the two shall become one, the man shall live his father and mother, and this is the beauty of the union. When he defined sexuality, he used the picture of Genesis 2. And that's the vision that Jesus has for it. And so people say he didn't speak about it. He did. He gave the right vision. And so did Paul and so did John and so did Luke. So it's pretty clear. If you would try to justify sexual immorality outside of that, you would have to come to the Bible and cut off a lot of pages. But you don't want to do that because you're saints. That is not proper to saints. Amen. All right. So now he starts talking about the light. Therefore do not become partners with them. You know partners here is both to participate and also to tolerate. Don't give any room for it. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Well, the Bible teaches us that He has transferred us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His Son, where there's light. We were once in darkness, but we're no longer there. We're in the light. And when the light comes, then we can see. It says the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. Here's some good criteria for us to make decisions. You're about to make a decision, you want to walk in the light. Is this good? Is this right? Is this true? Is this good according to God? Is this right according to God? Is this true according to God? Because we are children of light. And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. When the light is turned on, then we can discern properly. How much do we need the gift of discernment, friends, to be able to see the difference between what's good and what's almost good? You know, Charles Spurgeon said this that discernment is not only the ability to tell what's right from what's wrong, but the ability to tell what's right from what's almost right. Discernment is the ability to tell what's right from what's almost right. So when the light comes on, then we can see it, then we can make these decisions, and then we can walk in wisdom. And he goes on to talk about wisdom here. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. How do we expose them? It's not about just pointing fingers, trust me. When the light comes, darkness dissipates. Just naturally happens. Think about ⁓ the Tower of Pisa, for example. You guys know that building in Italy? It's like leaning this way or this way, one of the ways. ⁓ you don't have to go there and just say, look at that building, it's leaning. Especially if you go and put like ⁓ Empire State next to it, for example. Empire State just sits right there and you see the tower, you're like, whoa, whoa, that's crooked. Like that's not right. Right? A lot of times the exposion just happens, or the exposing just happens when the light becomes present. When that which is right appears in front of that which is wrong You just do them the math right there. And so don't be surprised if you're in Christ and people are like, hey man, you're no fun anymore. You used to do these things. And and you're like, it's not that I'm not fun anymore. It's just that I'm not into that shady stuff anymore. I'm in the light now. You know? I remember in high school, my friends would tell me that when I came to Christ, a bunch of them came around like Diego, it's not that we don't wanna have you around or invite you, it's just that when you come and like you you're not the same anymore. Now I'm like, thank God. I'm not. I'm not the same anymore. I'm no longer who I was. And both I became uncomfortable and they became uncomfortable when we were together. So don't be surprised if that happens to you. Because that's what light does. But then you can invite others into the light. At first they may be shocked by the light, but then they're not gonna want to be in the dark anymore. Amen. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says, when he says it here, he's quoting something. But if you look through scripture, you don't actually have an exact quotation of this. You have themes from the book of Isaiah, but it's not an exact quote from Scripture. Most scholars believe that he was quoting an ancient baptismal hymn. Whenever they would baptize people, they would sing this. So look at this beautiful little song here. Awake O sleeper and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. That's what happens when we open up our lives to Jesus. You know, when we say yes to Him, we're transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of light. Christ will shine on you. So, verse 15, now that you have the light, now that you know that you got you gotta imitate God and that you're walking in love, look carefully then how you walk. Another word for carefully, there is circumspect. I remember when I was a child and I was running around in this property in the farm where we lived in Brazil, and I went to jump this fence to a neighbor's property because we were gonna go get mangles or something. And when I went to jump, they had this barbed wire, and my foot got stuck in the barbed barbed wire, like really like in there. I know. And I remember I was, you know, young, and I'm like, what do I do now? Because I don't want to pull it out because it's gonna hurt so much. So I stayed with my foot there, and I'm like, dang. Dad, until my dad came and he came, and you know, he did what dads do, and he's like, let me look at it, and it poop just yanked my phone. Which was probably the only way he was gonna do that. but I remember after that, I now paid a lot of attention to fences. You know, I remember how much it hurt, so I walked like this. I'm like, I'm not gonna step on that, you know. I'm like going in the fence. And so this is what he's talking about with the light, with wisdom. Now we get to walk circumspectly. Be wise about your time. Be wise about your choices. Be wise about the environments you're in. And he's calling the church to come up here, guys. Don't walk as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of time because the days are evil. Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. You know, the light will allow us to understand, to discern what his will is. And do not get what? Verse eighteen, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit. Have you ever wondered why he's contrasting drunkenness with filling with the spirit? He is. You know, when somebody's drunk, what do they say? They say that person is under the influence. You're not drive under the influence, or you're gonna get a ticket and it's gonna be bad, right? D you I ⁓ is that you say do you I? So under the influence. So here Paul is teaching them like, hey, don't live under the influence of alcohol, but live under the influence of the spirit. Be filled with the spirit. And a lot of people will run to alcohol, for example, to find some relief, or to find some kind of joy or happiness, or to finally feel bold or courageous. Those are feelings you get when you're drunk. But those are the fake versions of what's in store for us in the spirit. When you fill with the spirit, then you have rest and peace. When you're filled with the spirit, then you have joy, unspeakable and full of glory. When you're filled with the spirit, then you're bold as a lion. So he's saying, Don't be drunk, but be filled with the spirit. You wonder why in Acts 2, when they were filled with the Spirit, people came around and said, What's going on? And Peter's like, We're not drunk like you suppose. Something was happening in that room where Peter had to say that. Right? And then in Acts 4, the disciples were together praying, and Spirit comes again and fills them again in a fresh way. You see, the translation for this verse here is not only be filled with the Spirit as if you were filling yourself once, but it's keep being filled. Be continuously filled with the Spirit. to say this to you and you probably know it, but you cannot walk in the love that Jesus loved without the spirit. You cannot imitate God without the spirit. You cannot be Of darkness without the spirit, and in the light without the spirit. You cannot have the wisdom of God without the spirit. So, Paul is saying, in this new way of life, trust me, you're gonna need to be filled with the spirit. You're gonna need to continuously fill yourself with the Holy Spirit. And then he gives them some practices addressing one another. First of all, that's beautiful because this is a good reason for us to come to church. One another. Some people may say, Well, I can be filled with the spirit, or I can. Meet God by myself out there on my own, but here is saying, address one another. There are expressions of the spirit and feelings with God that only happen in the context of community. So he's saying, address one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Could it be that as we are worshiping, as we are blessing each other, as we are singing, Holy Spirit is actually filling us. You see? Then he says, giving thanks always. It's another practice. For everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for. Christ is the motivation. He's the motivation for submitting to one another. He's the motivation for us. Imitating God, he's the motivation for us, walking in the light, in love. So to summarize, chapter five so far, we went through 21 verses. Imitate God, walk in love and in the light, and be filled with the Spirit. Imitate God as his children. Walk in love and in the light and be filled with the Spirit. That's the charge today. We did it. Can we stand? I want to pray for you. And next week we're gonna continue from verse 22. He's gonna talk about home life, husbands and wives, parents and children, and so on. Submission and but this last verse here really is a bridge to the next section. What motivates our service and our humility is reverence for Christ. If I'm gonna submit to Aaron, or if I'm gonna submit to a brother or to a lit a leader, it's not only because of what they do or who they are, it's because of who Christ is. What motivates our humility and our service is not the person necessarily, it is Christ. We're gonna go into more of that next week. I want to pray with you. Maybe you're here this morning and Holy Spirit's been just stubbing on your heart. You're like, I've been walking in some places that are not the light. And whether you've said yes and welcomed Jesus to your heart before or you haven't yet. You just feel like you want to say a greater yes to him today. You want to open up your heart and your arms and say, Jesus, I need this love. I need this light. I want to open up to you. Forgive me. I need you. I'm turning. I'm turning from the ways of shady life to life in the light. Let me pray for you. Will you close your eyes? Lord Jesus, today I pray that your kindness will lead us to repentance. That you'd search our hearts. We're all in this journey and we have so much growing to do, but by your spirit, we aim to do that. I pray for all of us here this morning, Lord, that you would inspire us, that you'd speak to us, that you'd strengthen us as we go, and that you'd speak specifically to us. I pray for a prophetic. insight to our lives so that we can live in your love, in your glory, in your life. Magnify your name. Then if you're here today and you just want to say yes, Jesus, I need that and I need to turn today to Jesus. Wherever it may be, you just know you don't want to leave this building without knowing you made that decision. Just want to give you a chance to respond right now. So if you're here, you want to say yes to Jesus, whether it's the first time or you are returning, can you just lift up your hand right now? I see your hand there, brother. God bless you. Don't be shy. You just know you need to turn today. We celebrate your choice today, brother. God bless you. God bless you. Speak to somebody here before you leave. Just pray with them. Connect with them. Lord Jesus, give us the wisdom to walk in the light. Fill us with the Spirit. Cause us to be children who glorify the Father as we go. That is our prayer and our desire. In your name we pray. Amen. Can we just praise Jesus? Hallelujah. Hey God bless you. So good to be with you. Have an amazing week.