Ephesians: Chapter 5, Walking - 10-04-26 - Pastor John Authenreith

Good to see everybody this morning in here or at home online on vacation wherever you may happen to be.

It's a beautiful day.

I'm glad that we can gather together, either in person or virtually.

It's always a good thing, right?

I have uh some questions for you that I gotta start with today, and you gotta help me with this, right?

How many of you have ever heard the song Walk Like an Egyptian by the Bengals?

Raise your hand.

You heard that song?

Okay, good.

Then all the cops in the donut shop sing.

What do they sing?

Well, well, well, okay, good.

You know that one.

How about Walk This Way by Aerosmith?

How many know that one?

I won't sing that song.

Let's go back a little bit.

I walked the line.

Who's that by?

Johnny Cash.

There's one for you.

And let me see.

Oh, let's go way back.

This is gonna really show your age.

These boots are made for walking.

Who made that song?

Nancy Sinatra.

Who knew that?

Raise your hand.

That's right, Frank Sinatra's daughter, Nancy.

Yeah, but that goes way back.

I don't even know.

I was a little kid when that came out, right?

And hopefully you'll know one or more of those songs.

And uh, you know, maybe you'll get walk like an Egyptian stuck in your head right now for the rest of the day.

And I hope so.

So don't say I never gave you anything, right?

You'll remember that all day today.

And uh, walk in these instances has to do with movements, right?

With motion, the act of walking, activity, correct?

Right?

And there's a lot of songs to talk about that.

And I want to give you another definition for the word walk today, uh, as found in the Bible.

And you're gonna learn some Greek, okay?

Here's the word.

Let's put the word up there is parapateo.

That means in Greek, that is a Greek word that means conduct, behavior, or manner of life.

Parapateo.

You're gonna hear that all morning this morning.

And that word is translated from Greek to English in the Bible as walk.

Walk.

And let me show you.

Turn to Ephesians chapter 5 as we continue our study today.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

We're gonna be in there.

Uh we look at the continue the study of this letter, Ephesians chapter 5, verse 1, it says this.

Ephesians 5:1

It says, follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children.

And she just talked about that, and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

And there's the word.

What's it say?

There it is, walk in the way of love.

Walk, there it is, parapateo in the original language.

This uh letter was written in Greek and it's translated into English, and they had to find a word for conduct and behavior, and so that we use the word walk.

It's kind of churchy, right?

We say, How's your walk, right?

And what are we talking about?

How's your walk with the Lord?

How's your conduct?

People don't normally say that unless they're talking in Christian circles, right?

How's your walk, right?

Your conduct, your behavior, your manner of life.

Uh and um and uh Paul says, Paul says that uh let your walk, your conduct, your behavior, your manner of life be that of love.

We're talking in our Bible class today.

How do you do that?

How do you how do you let your life be that of love?

And Paul says Christ's sacrifice is the ultimate example of this.

But let me back up for a second, because last week we ended um chapter four, and we ended with uh, let me see, what was it, chapter four, verse 32?

Paul said, Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Then verse one, follow God's example, therefore, therefore, because of what he said in the previous chapter.

Chapters and verses were inserted about the 1200s or somewhere in there.

I don't know.

This is one letter.

And in this letter, Paul says, in verse chapter four, be kind and compassionate, forgiving each other, follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children.

I love that.

He says, follow God's example, walk in the way of love.

Number one, let's get that out of the way first.

Number one, walk in love.

So this sets up week four.

We're already in week four, if you can believe it, in this series.

I think it's been good.

It's been uh really interesting.

I love this book, this letter that Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus.

I know that many of you are in a life group.

How many, if you're in a life group, raise your hand if you're in a life group.

Yeah, a whole bunch of you are in life groups and we're studying this, taking this apart in a little bit more detail in life groups, hearing great stories about that.

Ours is doing really, really great.

It's it's a blast.

So far, then in this series, we talked about our identity in Christ.

We've talked about grace and what that means for our life.

Last week we looked at the idea of becoming who God has called us to be.

With the bottom line being listen to this, because Christ is in us, we can live out our identity as believers.

We look at this whole Christianity thing and we think it's hard, right?

It's hard, I can't do this, right?

But we have Christ in us, we have the Holy Spirit living in us that enables us to live the way we are called to live as believers.

We can live out our identity.

And Paul tells us what that looks like, and we're going to study that today in chapter five.

Walking peripateo in the way of love, he says, but he's got much more to share with us today.

Read, look at this, verse three.

He starts to get into it here.

But among you, there must not even be a hint.

Remember, he says, walk in the way of love, guys.

But among you, this is all one, remember, one letter here, there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality or any kind of impurity or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.

Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

For of this you can be sure, no immoral, impure, or greedy person, such a person as an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things, God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.

Therefore, do not be partners with them.

This is all about behavior, isn't it?

It's all about behavior.

Believers are called to live differently than those who don't follow Christ.

And I know that's kind of a given, and you all kind of understand that, right?

But I'll tell you what, I said this earlier.

If all Christians behave the way Paul is asking us to behave, there would be a whole lot more Christians in this world because more people would want what we have.

So Paul turns to the sacrificial, from the sacrificial love of Christ's love to love's perversion and adultery and sexual immorality.

One author said that Paul knew the dangers that his readers were exposed to in uh the life of their society in Ephesus.

And so he spoke frankly about them.

I know you guys are exposed to this stuff.

Let's talk about it.

Let's talk about it.

He wasn't hiding anything.

He gives us a list of behaviors which no one should, no believer should participate in: sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscenity, foolish talk, coarse joking.

And he gives us a little thing on that.

He says, you should replace foolish talk and coarse joking with thanksgiving.

In other words, thanksgiving is the best use of speech.

That's what he's saying there.

And Paul reminds his readers in this section that these believers, what does he say, have no place in the kingdom of God, no place in Christianity.

And if you remember in chapter 4, he said, put off the old self and put on the new.

That's what we're talking about today, all day today.

Put on the new, created to be like God in righteousness and holiness.

Think about it.

Because the behaviors that Paul listed are just as prevalent in our society today as they were 2,000 years ago, only worse.

I would say worse.

I don't know.

And quite often, behaviors that Paul's talking about here are celebrated in our society, aren't they?

Sure they are.

And Paul ends this section saying, let no one deceive you into thinking that these behaviors are okay.

They are not okay.

Turn on your TV, right?

Log into Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook.

You see, deception.

Lots of deception.

Therefore, he says, Don't hang around with people who think these things are okay.

Sexual promiscuity is not okay.

Adultery is not okay.

Don't hang around with people who say it is okay.

They are a bad influence.

Told you when I wanted to be a rock star, it didn't work out.

I had to walk away from the crowd of people I was hanging around with at the time.

Because they were a bad influence.

I just saw something the other day.

Um there's an actor, actress, actor, actress who had her breasts removed and turned herself into a man.

You may have seen this.

Turned herself into a man, and she's going to be featured shirtless on the cover of New York magazine's men's style issue.

This is not okay.

This is not okay.

But our society, do you see that?

Continues to normalize this kind of behavior, and that's Paul's point.

This is not okay.

But here's the thing, I always say this.

We cannot do not expect Christian behavior from people who do not follow Christ.

Why would we?

I'm sure the actor who became a man is not a Christ follower, I assume, right?

So we cannot expect Christian behavior out of those who do not follow Christ.

But believers must check their own behavior.

We're responsible for ourselves, right?

Keep it aligned with scripture and listen, never condone anything that doesn't line up with this.

Stop making excuses.

Don't condone anything that doesn't line up with this.

Nothing.

What do we do with this?

What do we do with that?

Because we're God's God's children, we're called to imitate him by the way we behave.

We're called to love others.

We're called and turn away from the sinful patterns of our old life in the world, not of the world.

Have you heard that one before?

Believers must live like the children of God that we are.

Believers must live like the children of God that we are.

Of course, I'm talking to believers in here.

I'm not assuming everybody in here or watching at home is a believer.

I'm not assuming that.

But you can hear how believers are expected to live, right?

Walk in love.

Walk in love.

Paul tells us why.

Verse 8.

He gets really practical.

This is just this is so good.

I love this chapter, just really good.

Verse 8 he says, continuing on, do not be partners with them.

He said, remember, don't be partners with people, don't let them deceive you.

He says, For you once, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

He says, Live as children of light.

Little side note there, for the fruit, the product of the light, consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

And he says, Find out what pleases the Lord.

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.

But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.

That is why it is said, wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

I love how this starts.

Did you catch that?

Did you catch the little uh play on words there?

Well how he worded that?

He said, You were once darkness.

He didn't say you were once in darkness.

No, he said you were darkness.

You were darkness itself before Christ.

And the New Testament commentary said that Paul brings in one of the most common and most striking New Testament illustrations of the absoluteness of the difference between the old life and the new life in Christ.

God is light, and you are light in the Lord when Jesus is your Savior.

Okay, what's that mean?

Light in the Bible is an analogy for all things good, positive, holy, Jesus, God Himself.

It's light.

And darkness then is the opposite.

Make sense, right?

Because light and dark cannot exist in the same space.

They can exist in the same world, but not in the same space.

Paul basically continues on with what he said in the previous section.

He said, have nothing to do with this dark stuff.

Come on.

And actually, he says, when you see it, rear its ugly head.

He says, call it out.

Call it out for what it is.

Put some light on it.

Do we do that?

When we experience someone's sinful behavior, do we call it out?

Do we shed some light on it?

Think about it.

Do they still have uh like at Halloween time, do they still have haunted houses where you can go and you can pay 10 bucks and walk through a haunted house?

They still have those?

Like they have haunted hay rides, right?

And uh haunted uh uh mazes or you know, corn maze and stuff like that.

Well, over in Akron, um they had the haunted houses where like for the whole month of October, or you could go and you could pay and you could walk through a building or whatever, and monsters jump out at you, and it's supposed to be scary.

Well, we had one called the Haunted School House, and it was an old elementary school, it's three stories tall.

It was no longer an elementary school, and they turned it into a haunted house.

So you could go there in October, you know, the whole month of October, and you could pay your money and walk through, and there's monsters all over the place.

And and uh we used to go to that, we used to do that kind of stuff.

And one of my friends went, and the first floor of the haunted schoolhouse was a maze, pitch black.

No light in there at all, just a maze, a skinny too, a thin, skinny little maze.

And you walk through there, literally, you could not see a thing, and you had to keep moving because there was people behind you and people in front of you.

My friend was in there, and uh he accidentally couldn't see, and the guy in front of him had stopped, so he bumped into the guy in front of him, and the guy in front of him turns around and pushed my friend.

So my friend retaliates, he didn't do the Christian thing, he pushed him back.

As soon as he pushed him back, a flashlight came on right on the sleeve.

Akron Police Department.

There was a patch right there.

He pushed the policeman, and the policeman wasn't having it, and he got in trouble for disorderly conduct.

What's that all about?

Well, what's the point?

The light exposed the truth, didn't it?

Uh-oh.

Right?

The light exposed the truth.

Paul says, do that, do that, expose the truth.

Then he goes into this little thing, this little thing, wake up sleeper, what's that?

Rise from the dead.

They think it's from a baptismal hymn or something.

If you notice, if in your Bible, there's no footnote to tell you that wake up sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

There's no footnote to tell you where that comes from.

So we assume that it came from like a baptismal hymn or something.

And Paul quotes it because he's saying, Open your eyes, receive Jesus as your savior, be a light.

And then Jesus says himself, right?

We are the light of the world.

Let your light shine.

What's the application of this?

One resource said that Paul reminds believers that they were once darkness, we've got that, but are now light in the Lord.

Their lives should reveal, listen, our lives should reveal the goodness, righteousness, and truth of Christ.

Let your life show what Christ has done in you and live as, not in, as, live as darkness no longer.

Be done with it.

You're different.

If you're a believer, you're different.

You're talking to believers.

Number one, walk in love, and number two, walk in the light.

Pair of potato, walk.

Your behavior, right?

Your behavior.

Go to verse 15.

Walk in the light.

Verse 15 says this.

And he goes on.

This is so good.

This is something to read later when you get home.

Be very careful then how you live.

Look at this.

He's telling us.

He's telling these people in Ephesus.

Be very careful how you live.

Not as unwise, but as wise.

Why?

Because the days are evil.

Amen.

Therefore, do not be foolish and do stupid stuff.

Oh, it doesn't say that.

Do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery, to sinfulness, stupid behavior.

Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.

Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Be very careful.

I love that.

Be very careful how you live.

You gotta think about it.

It's purposeful.

Be very careful how you live.

The ESV, the English Standard Version, says, look carefully how you walk.

Why?

Because it's easy to get sucked into the sinfulness of the world around you.

Isn't it?

Paul basically says, Don't be stupid.

He says the days are evil.

Don't be foolish.

Come on.

And then he says, make the most of every opportunity.

In other words, look for every chance to help someone turn from darkness to light.

And he says, understand what the Lord's will is.

Have you ever had a hard time trying to figure out what the Lord's will for my life?

I don't know.

Right?

Christians whine about that all the time.

I don't know what the Lord's will is for my life.

Well, Paul just gave his 14, explained what the Lord's will is for our life in the previous 14 verses, if you want to go that way.

And he goes on to say, Well, this must have been a problem.

He says, Don't get drunk, because it leads to all that stuff we just talked about.

This must have been a problem in Ephesus.

Having a beer is one thing, having too many is a problem.

And Paul isn't about being The fun police, either.

You know, that's one thing.

It's not about he replaces the sinful behavior, drunkenness, with a positive.

Be filled with the spirit instead of beer.

How do you like that one?

We know that the Holy Spirit lives in you when you become a believer.

Paul's point here to let the Holy Spirit do its thing.

Sing.

Replace that behavior.

Sing, worship, praise, make music from your heart to the Lord.

This beats partying every time.

And Paul says, give thanks in everything.

Everything.

We're just talking about that in our Bible class today.

What do you have to be thankful for today?

And somebody said, I got up this morning.

Amen.

That's something to be thankful for, isn't it?

I got up this morning.

Again, Paul's being positive here.

Give thanks and everything.

Now, let's consider what he's talking about and add all this up.

Let me ask you, how many of you have a GPS on your phone?

You use it?

Use a GPS on your phone?

Anybody use Waze?

You ever heard of Waze?

They used to use Waze every now and then, and I don't use it anymore, but used to.

It was pretty cool to policemen spotted ahead.

You know, that was always helpful.

You got the flashlight there with the thing.

So that was always helpful when you know that you know to slow down, right?

There's that.

But how in the world did we get anywhere without a GPS?

I don't know.

Do you remember printing out Google Maps?

Printing out four or five pages of Google Maps for how to get to your friend's house across town?

It's like, yeah, before that, I don't know.

I don't know how we did it before that.

But uh you know, you know your destination, but maybe you don't know how to get there.

You know where you need to go, but you don't know how to get there.

You could just start driving and hope you eventually arrive, but the odds of that are slim.

That probably wouldn't happen.

Before long, you might find yourself going the wrong direction, and you'd be lost, you would have no idea where you were.

That's why we use GPS, right?

It constantly tells us where we are, where we are going, and what adjustments we need to make to get there.

What's that sound like?

Paul is giving us God's directions for the road we're walking.

He tells us where we are, where we're headed, and how we're supposed to live along the way.

How we're supposed to live along the way.

Walk wisely, make the most of your time, understand God's will, be filled with the Spirit.

It's not hard.

Speak and sing encouragement to each other and constantly give thanks.

It's not hard.

And this is a picture of the Christian life.

And Paul's words are relevant and practical, aren't they?

They're relevant and they're practical.

Walk in love, walk in the light, and number three, walk in wisdom.

I say earlier, don't be stupid.

We're being stupid.

Walk.

Conduct, behavior, manner of life.

So going along with what we've been learning over the last few weeks, right?

We've learned today that we are to walk in love as a child of God, walk in the light of Christ, and walk in wisdom.

And Paul goes on, the rest of this chapter, if you look at verse 22 and following, we're not going to get into that today.

He talks about relationships, submitting to one another, right?

As with the rest of our text today, in the rest of our text today, he says marriage should reflect the sacrificial love of Jesus and his intimate relationship with us.

And that section that we're not going to get to today is a sermon all in itself.

That's why we're not going there.

We don't have enough time to get into that specific topic.

And I encourage you to read that on your own if you get a chance today, to read the rest of chapter five as he talks about all the things we just talked about and applies that to marriage, parenting, work, relationships, all of that.

And our bottom line today is this because Christ has changed who we are, we should walk differently.

Love deeply.

Behave as Christ calls us to, and live wisely.

For all of us.

Pay attention to how you're walking.

Pay attention.

Don't just go through life on autopilot.

Don't do that.

Ask yourself Am I walking?

Is my behavior?

Am I walking in love?

Am I walking in the light?

Am I walking in wisdom?

Then identify an area where God is asking you to change your behavior.

What is that for you?

Maybe it's the way you speak.

Maybe it's the way you treat someone.

Maybe it's the way you live.

Maybe it's the relationship you're in that you know that you know in here you shouldn't be in this relationship.

Maybe it's that.

Maybe it's the things that uh you allow into your mind, how you use your time, or whether you're allowing the Holy Spirit to direct your life or not.

What's the last time you thought about that?

See, Christ has changed who we are.

Now let's let that change be seen in the way we walk.

Christ has changed who we are.

Now let's let that change be seen in the way we walk.

And of course, I told you that we're basically addressing Christian behavior today.

Well, we were addressing Christian behavior, talking to believers.

And maybe you're here or you're at home and you're not a believer yet, and you don't understand all of this stuff.

Well, you got a good glimpse of uh the what Christianity is all about right there.

But it starts with Jesus becoming your savior, and maybe you're not there yet.

Jesus came that we may have life and have it to the full.

He came for the forgiveness of sins.

Our sins have separated us from God, and the only way to bridge the gap is by believing that Jesus Christ came, lived, died, and rose again as forgiveness for our sins that we all have.

So I implore you if today you're not sure you'd go to heaven if your life were taken today.

If you're not sure you'd go to heaven, we need to talk about that.

You at home, drop us a note.

You in here, talk to me, talk to somebody on the praise team, leadership of the church.

Let's get that squared away.

We don't have to make it harder than it is.

We don't have to make it harder than it is.

So, with all that, would you pray with me?

Lord, uh, just thank you for the encouraging word of scripture.

Thank you, Lord.

What a different place this world would be if we would take Paul's words to heart and if we would live the way that that you have called us to live.

It's not that hard.

It's not that hard.

Lord, I pray that you would speak clearly to each one of us, Lord, in the areas of our life that could that could use some work.

Lord, help us to get there.

Help us to be people that have Christ living in us so much that you can't miss it.

That others can't miss it.

I pray that somebody would see my life and want what I have.

And I pray that for all of us, Lord, so that others may know who Jesus is.

Thank you for your goodness and your kindness.

Thank you for salvation by faith, by grace through faith in your son Jesus Christ.

It's not anything we could do, not anything we could earn, it's not any of that, Lord.

It's about what's already been done by Jesus.

How could we do anything else but live our life for him because of what he did for us?

May we never lose sight of that, Lord.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

It's a good day today for a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons that it's a good day is because today is World Communion Sunday.

I don't know if you knew that or not, but every year, the first Sunday of October, believers from all over the world remember what Jesus did by having communion.

And we're going to do that today.

We do it every October, the first Sunday of October as well.

To celebrate unity, the shared connection of believers across different denominations, across different cultures, all of that.

And we're blessed today with the opportunity to participate.

So we're going to have communion today.

Communion is about remembering what Jesus Christ did for us.

Jesus said in the upper room, you know, we'll do this in remembrance of me.

You know, every time you do this, remember me.

And that's what we believe communion is about.

It's about a reminder, it's about remembering the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus.

Now you don't have to be a member of our church to uh partake of communion today, but you do need to be a member of God's family, have a relationship with Jesus.

I'm told that uh the bread today is gluten-free and dairy-free, so there's that.

You should be okay with that.

What I want you to do is the the worship team is going to lead us in a song and just come out of your seats, come down the aisle, get your bread in your cup, and then go back that way to your seat.

Hold it in your hand, and we'll take communion together as a family.

Okay?

Does that sound good?

All right, let me pray.

Father God, we just uh lift this up to you.

We just praise you for the opportunity we have to remember what Jesus Christ did for us.

May we never lose sight of his love and his sacrifice.

And I pray that others see it in us as well.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.