Grateful in the Storm: Thanksgiving as a Weapon Against Sin - Eph 5:3-4

Good morning and welcome to the broadcast service of Dillingham Moravian Church.

My name is Pastor Simon. Our goal here at DMC is to make disciples of Christ

through the study of God's Word as we trust in Christ together.

One of my hobbies is studying the stories of the persecuted Christians from around the world.

I do this to reorient my perspective when I feel like my life is challenging.

Do you know what is the most common theme amongst persecuted Christians and their churches are?

Thankfulness to God for their persecution.

This is from an article about the persecuted church.

The writer wrote, For in the face of utter evil and intense suffering,

despite persecution and pain, Christians are giving thanks.

This kind of response goes against every natural inclination When we suffer,

even experience the tiniest inconvenience Our default response is to gripe and

complain Or at best to joke sarcastically about our situation Or shrug our shoulders

about the brokenness of this world But that's not what these Christians are doing In the darkest,

most dangerous, and life-threatening circumstances people around the world are praising God,

not just despite their situations, but for their situations.

I want to tell you the story of Carlos, who is a pastor in Cuba who is constantly being persecuted.

And this is what Carlos wrote. I tell my church that we're not the only ones

being persecuted. We are not victims.

Instead, we are privileged because we are being persecuted for Christ's sake.

I bring these stories to your attention because thankfulness for God and what

he has done in Christ and their gratitude to serve Christ,

even unto death, is one of the main qualities that sets the persecuted Christians

apart from their own cultures, but also even from our Christian cultures back here in the States.

Amidst suffering and so many temptations, these Christians stand firm for Christ,

finding gratitude to the Lord amidst even the harshest of situations. Let's pray.

Oh, Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for You, for Your love for us, for Your great mercy.

But also, we have to repent for our lack of gratitude for the hard times,

for the times when we are ill or times when we are suffering.

Help us, Lord, as Christians, to repent of this and find the good that you have

placed in all situations so that we can give you praise in it and through it.

In your precious Son's name, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

Here at Dillingham Moravian Church, we have been studying in Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

The theme of this letter is the unity of God displayed in God's church.

Previously, in Ephesians 4, God, through Paul, taught the Christians that we

are called to put away and get rid of all evil thoughts,

our emotions, behaviors of our old lives under the control of Satan,

like being bitter, anger, displaying wrath, and shouting at others,

and abusing others with our slanderous speech, and having an evil and perverse

attitude towards others.

Secondly, as holy ones of God, we are, by the power of the Holy Spirit,

to put on the character qualities of Christ.

Those Christlike qualities are kindness, having a tender heart towards others,

and graciously forgiving others as Christ has graciously forgiven us.

Moreover, Christ's disciples are called to imitate God as beloved children of

God, meaning Christians are called to imitate God, our Father,

as a child would imitate his or her father.

Secondly, we have been taught that how we are to imitate God is by imitating

Christ's sacrificial love.

Lastly, as we imitate Christ's love, we are being living sacrificial offerings

that are pleasing to God.

And today we're going to continue in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 3 through 6.

Ephesians 5:3–6

Where Paul wrote, But sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not be

even named among you as is proper among the saints,

nor filthiness or foolish talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting,

but rather the giving of thanks.

For this you know with certainty, that no one sexually immoral or impure or

greedy who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath

of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

There are three truths that the Lord through Paul wishes to teach us as we continue

with our study in Ephesians 5.

However, before we begin this study, I must warn you that Paul's commands here are graphic.

And yet there is hope as well because God through Paul gives us the antidote

to the evils that he listed in these verses.

I want you to be able to see the contrast of the old sin life versus the new

life in unity with God's people and with God.

The first main truth I want to bring to your attention today is that as Christ's

disciples, we are to live according to what is proper amongst the saints.

Years ago, I had the privilege of crewing for three seasons on a drift boat out on Bristol Bay.

And as I mingled among the fishermen on our boat and also amongst the fishermen

in the fleet, both on the drift boats and on set nets over the years,

I have noticed the common refrain amongst fishermen.

And that statement is, what happens in the bay stays in the bay. many who.

Maybe you're listening to this, and you may have heard this before.

What is underlying in this statement is that the antics and mischief that fishermen

and women get up to while fishing out on the bay not only does not continue

when they get back home, but also is not talked about when they get back home.

Now, I'm not here to rat on anyone or browbeat anyone, and some of the antics

are just mischievous pranks.

But a good many are not. Even a many good Christian who would never swear at

home will swear at fish camp or on the boat.

And for those who fish on the bay, you know that there's many years where tempers

flared and violence between fishing captains and crews have been known to happen,

especially on the south line or when waiting in tender lines.

Corking other people off on the water or fishing in places where it is legal

to do so are other things that people get up to.

Moreover, many illegal drugs have been transported or brought in through the

fleet or using the fleet as cover.

Again, my point is not to shame anyone about this part of our fishing culture here on the bay.

Rather, my focus is to point out that as the family of Christ,

we have been set apart as holy ones of God to be radically different than the

people and the cultures around us.

Paul commanded the Ephesian Christ believers in Ephesians 5,

Ephesians 5:3–6

verses 3-6, But sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not be even

named among you, as is proper amongst the saints,

nor filthiness and foolish talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting,

but rather the giving of thanks.

As we begin studying this passage, we must understand that the focus of Paul's

letter to the Ephesians is about the unity of God.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and all His holy set-apartness displayed in the Church of Christ.

While God loves sinners, the unity of God is based in the holy love of God,

and sin never has a place in God's love.

I would like to show you the meaning of many of the sin categories that Paul

lists in verses 3-4 because I want to make sure there is no confusion as to

what Paul was instructing the Ephesians and to all believers in Christ Jesus as Lord.

The first word that Paul commanded to not even be named that someone has done

such a thing amongst the churches of Christ is sexual immorality.

This word that Paul used was porneia, where we get the modern word porn from,

that meant unlawful sexual intercourse, prostitution, unchastity, fornication.

This word referred mainly to prostitution, but also covered adultery and having

sex outside the covenant marriage bed.

This includes both sexes, whether male or female, or male and male, or female with female.

According to John MacArthur, the apostle Paul and the church at Ephesus faced

a culture steeped in pagan ritual and tradition.

In Greek society, life was especially difficult for wives.

Concubines were common, and a wife's role was simply to bear legitimate children and keep house.

Both male and female prostitution were rampant. Husbands typically found sexual

gratification with concubines and prostitutes, whereas wives often,

with the encouragement of their husbands.

Found sexual fulfillment with their slaves, both male and female.

Prostitution, homosexuality, and many other forms of sexual promiscuity and

perversion inevitably resulted in widespread sexual abuse of children.

Roman society was just as bad. Marriage was little more than a legalized prostitution

and divorce was an easily obtained formality.

In our Western culture today, this word can also definitely apply to couples

living together when not married and having sexual intercourse outside of marriage.

Porn can either go on this word or the next one because porn is,

according to Jesus himself, committing adultery with the eyes and with the mind.

The second category of sin that Paul listed was impurity, which is a state of

moral corruption, immorality, vileness, especially of sexual sins.

Any sexual sin not covered in the first category can be placed under impurity.

Again, porn could also be under this term as well.

But these terms in our passage today, they are more of categories rather than specific sins.

Paul went on to mention greed.

Greed is simply wanting something that we do not have. This can refer to possessions,

money, status, jobs, women or men, other people's wives or girlfriends.

This word is very similar to coveting that the Ten Commandments warn us against.

The next category is filthiness or obscene behavior, which referred to the trait

of behaving in an obscene manner.

When I think of this word, some modern college parties come to mind where reverie

and very loose behavior was rampant.

When I first went to college, our school took busloads of us students to the

football game between Edmonton and Calgary in Alberta.

Before the game started, a young man, dared by his friends, ran around the field

covered in oil without clothes on, while security and football players tried to tackle him.

But they had trouble grabbing him since he was like a greased pig.

My point is not to be graphic.

And although this may be an extreme and modern case, I want to describe broadly

what kind of behaviors that Paul was commanding the believers not to do.

History tells us that Greek and Roman parties, especially amongst the rich, got quite wild.

The next category that Paul warned the Christ-believers about was improprieties

in speech, meaning obscenities, shameless talk, and conduct.

This word can involve what we call swearing and taking the Lord's name in vain.

And Paul went on to include foolish talk. Literally, this means stupid words.

This term for stupid words meant stupid or rash conversation,

like the conversation of a drunk man.

It seemed that these stupid words often went along with drunkenness.

And this is important because when a person is inebriated or drunk,

he or she says things that are usually not the smartest or the most wise things to say.

And this is one of the main reasons why when I visit family who do drink responsibly,

I won't drink because my mind does not work well when I drink.

And I I used to say things that I really regret now.

Even more important is that I cannot adequately share the gospel or give defense

for the hope of Christ that is within me when I'm drinking.

And so, I've just made the decision that I will not drink.

The Bible doesn't command against drinking alcohol, but it does command against

drunkenness, and it does command us to be in control of our faculties and not

to be a stumbling block to others.

Paul in Ephesians 5, verse 18 commanded, And do not get drunk with wine,

Ephesians 5:18

for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

Lastly, Paul listed coarse jesting. This is vulgar or frivolous wit,

where a person uses humor to communicate vulgarity and often sexual jokes.

And I want you to notice something else, and this is super important.

None of these sin categories have any place inside the relationship of God in this church.

Paul makes it abundantly clear that these sins do not build unity in God's church.

And therefore, there must not be even a hint of these things in local churches as well.

And why did Paul say this? And here it is, because they are not proper to be among the saints.

Now, you may say, what's the big deal with not being proper?

A little cultural rebelliousness is a good thing, isn't it?

Paul wasn't warning the Ephesians on issues of etiquette or a little rebelliousness

against their parents or societal rules.

No, Paul was commanding the Ephesian Christians and all Christians to act in

such a manner that is proper for the saints of God.

The word saints literally meant holy ones, those who are set apart from the

world for the service of God in the holiness of God Himself.

This does not mean that Christians are necessarily to live in a commune or keep

our distance from those who do not know Christ,

but rather that when unsaved people and Christ followers alike look at us in

Christ's church, We live in such a radically Christ-like way that people know

that we are disciples of Christ.

Paul's previous list was not exhaustive, but it is a good overview of the kind

of behaviors that an individual Christian and Christian church must not be involved in.

And I encourage all of us to periodically ask ourselves this question.

As we surrender to Christ's lordship, do we intentionally, with serious faithfulness

to Christ, pursue the holy set-apartness that God spiritually sees us as?

So how can we apply Ephesians 5, verse 3 to 4 to us as Christians today?

Ephesians 5:3–4

The way we can apply this truth to Christ's church today is that evil behaviors

such as were in Paul's list, but not limited to, must not even be named amongst the holy ones.

Paul meant that there shouldn't even be a hint of us Christians being involved with any of these sins.

Now, most of us as Christians, that I know anyways, during normal everyday life,

would not commit most of or any of these sin categories.

But what about watching it on TV?

What about scanning through or watching reels on Facebook or social media or

YouTube with sexual content or swearing or other impurities and we linger on

those reels longer than we ought to?

The more we watch these evil things, the more we are tempted to take on that

way of thinking and acting, especially our children.

We may not swear at our church or our homes, but what about a fish camp or on

the drift boat or working construction with those who do swear or make off-color

jokes and trying to pull us into the joke?

There's also a fine line that we must be careful of in regards to wanting more

money or taking care of our families or to buy a house or wanting a bigger house

to house our family and their needs or to want that extra car,

wishing to move to get a different job in a different place,

because it will pay more money and be better for the family.

I say this because although we may have right and godly motives,

we still must discern and act wisely because it's so easy for our motives to

become about our own desires to have more or to covet the greener pastures somewhere else,

which I can tell you are not actually greener, they're just different.

Greed, which is desiring something that we do not have or perceive to not have,

is tricky and deceitful, like all other sins, masquerading in so many different forms.

I say all this because in our human nature that is fallen, it is so easy for

us to justify our choices, telling ourselves that we're doing them for the right

reasons, and yet we may not be.

We as Christ's family, as we humbly rely on the Holy Spirit,

must discern our choices based upon God's perspective regarding all situations.

And this leads us to the second main truth that I want to bring to your attention,

which is that of Christ's fault.

That, as Christ followers, rather than living in the impurities and filth of

the world controlled by Satan, we are to give thanks to God.

My big boy, Paul, is now a big kid at six years old.

However, when Paul first began to speak, one of the first phrases that he ever spoke was thank you.

Even up to about a year and a half, Paul would continue running around the house

with a great big smile on his face saying, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Even when he was getting into mischief and into trouble. And at the time,

I would get mad at him for doing something wrong and little Paul would look

at me and say, thank you, daddy, and run off and still get into mischief.

We did not always know what Paul was thankful for or to whom,

but he sure expressed his gratitude.

As God's people, one of the major defining qualities that we are to exemplify is thankfulness to God.

Let's look at Ephesians 5, verses 3-6 again.

Ephesians 5:3–6

But sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not be named among you as

is proper among the saints, nor filthiness and foolish talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting.

What is fitting for Christ's sake, but rather giving of thanks.

I want you to understand the way in which Paul taught that Christ believers

are to counter evil temptation was

in offering an alternative lifestyle characterized by gratitude to God.

The way in which the believer is to live instead of evil is by giving thanks

to the Lord. I would go even farther to state that thanksgiving is the weapon

against the evils characterized in Paul's list.

Ephesians 5, verses 3-4 We can use thanksgiving as our weapon to combat these

Ephesians 5:3–4

evils in our own lives and in Christ's local churches, which make up the larger church.

Paul explained in 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3-6 For though we walk in the flesh,

2 Corinthians 10:3–6

we do not war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for

the tearing down of strongholds.

As we tear down speculations on every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge

of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

and are ready to punish all disobedience whenever your obedience is fulfilled.

One of the most essential weapons against spiritual warfare that we as Christians

have in our arsenal is thanksgiving to God.

Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 16-18 taught, Rejoice always,

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18

pray without ceasing, and here it is, verse 18, in everything give thanks. Why?

For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

It is paramount for you and I to understand that thanksgiving reorients us away

from ourselves and back towards God where our focus ought to be.

You see, sin in its very basic nature is self-focused, and thanksgiving is focused

outward on God, and in God is focused on others.

All of paul's sin categories that he

mentioned ephesians 5 and every other sin

is selfish self-focused desiring

something that we do not yet have and the

question is how does thanksgiving combat sexual morality

in all kinds greed and other sin categories that paul warned us about in ephesians

Ephesians 5:3–4

chapter 5 verse 3 through 4 it's important that we recognize that one sin doesn't

operate alone or that we're not tempted by one sin alone either.

Satan may be using multiple temptations together to pull us down.

Sexual morality, porn, infidelity of any kind has its base in desiring that which we do not have.

Greed and covetousness are very connected with sexual sins.

In the temptation to desire for a woman or a man that we don't have that is

not our present spouse who may belong to someone else.

That temptation is connected to the desire for that man or woman that we don't have. Again, greed.

The same goes for the temptation of looking at images of men or women in various stages of undress.

That temptation is founded in the evil

desire for a woman or a man that we don't have and getting pleasure from looking

at those images often filthy talk and crude jokes are also the result of wanting

to please or impress the others around us who talk and joke in a filthy manner

again we want what we don't have right,

i know this because before Christ, I swore like a bay fisherman and I wasn't

even here yet and i did it back then because i wanted to be popular with the

bad lot I hung around with.

And this is where I'm going with this. Thanksgiving to God

is an effective weapon against sin because it gets our focus off of us and off

of what we perceive that we do not have back to the glorious love of God and

on what we actually do have from God in each of our situations.

And one of the reasons why those in the persecuted church can be so thankful

to God in suffering and for suffering is the practice of remembering what God

in Christ has done for them and looking for what Christ has given them,

even in the horrible situations they are in.

And for many persecuted Christians, one of the gifts of God that they are grateful

for is the privilege to suffer for the sake of Christ.

And I want to encourage us that in all circumstances, no matter how bleak the

situation seems, there is always something that we, you and I,

can be thankful to God for.

And we can always be thankful to God for what He's done for us in Jesus Christ.

With thankfulness to God comes the real power of God Almighty to increasingly

transform us into the image of Christ.

How then has God been speaking to us through His Word this morning?

The main focus of Ephesians chapter 5 verse 3 through 4 within the context of Ephesians 4 and 5,

Ephesians 5:3–4

is that God in Christ Jesus has saved us through the cross and resurrection

of Jesus, and He has transformed us into a new creation.

Christ's holy set-apart ones within Christ's church, unified in the oneness

of God and dedicated to God in His ways.

Thus, God through Paul taught us that we must not live with the immoralities

and filthiness of the world.

Rather, that you and I are to live lives set apart to God in gratitude for Him. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we are so

grateful that you are our God, that you have chosen us from before the creation

of the world, that you've loved us so much in your Son that you sent your Son, Jesus Christ,

to die on that cross and be the sacrifice for us in our place so that we didn't

have to shed, we didn't have to all die in order to pay for our forgiveness.

Thank you for doing that. We praise you for that, Father. Praise you for that, Jesus.

Thank you for your Holy Spirit that is teaching us and guiding us and bringing

your word to remembrance to us, Lord. Thank you. Use us, Lord.

And may we always live in gratitude to you. In your precious Son's name,

Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

I'll leave you with this benediction from Ephesians 3, verses 17-19.

Ephesians 3:17–19

May Christ, dwell in your hearts through faith, that you,

being rooted and grounded in love,

may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth

and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses

knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Have a wonderful Sunday. May the Lord bless you.