Well, we need God's help this morning as we look at his word. So let's pray and ask for that. Let's all pray. Our loving Heavenly Father, thank you so much that we can come before you, not because of any good that we have done, but because of the good you have done for us in Jesus Christ. And our Heavenly Father, we need your help this morning as we look at your word. Please would you help me. Please would you help all of us. to humbly sit under the truth of your revealed word to us. In Jesus Christ we pray these things and for his glory. Amen. Bill was a trainee pastor. We'll call him Bill. He preached a sermon on some of what we're gonna be looking at today in Ephesians chapter five. And if you wanna turn there with me to Ephesians chapter five, it's found on page 1,000. 244 of the church bibles and you'll also see there a little outline of where it is we're going and as you scan your way through that you might well see that there are some things which maybe some littler ears might not be helpful to hear this morning but indeed we'll need to hear soon if not sooner than we want to But just to recognize that Ephesians chapter five, specifically the beginning of this chapter, is talking very much about issues of immorality and addressing those. And Bill spoke this sermon as clearly and as relevantly as he could from the Bible. And after the service, remember he's a trainee minister, pastor, his boss took him to one side and he said this. Look, this is the most confidential thing I've ever said to you. But did you notice such and such a person coming into the church service this morning with his wife and two children? Bill went, yeah. And he said, well, that guy's been having an affair for the last months, and you preached that sermon? Now his boss wasn't angry, his boss wasn't cross, his boss was actually very affirming of what Bill said because both of them realized that God had been at work. Bill knew nothing about this circumstance. He was simply preaching his way through the letter. Bit like what we're doing here this morning. So there's no way that he could be accused of singling anyone out. He was simply saying the right things in the right way at the right time. So that the man and his family heard them. And it did make an impact upon that family's life. But that's the dilemma that many of us face as followers of Jesus. How do we talk about Jesus and live for Jesus and navigate talking about living for Jesus in a context that oftentimes sees Christianity not just as quaint, but potentially harmful, even dangerous, especially when it comes to matters of sexuality, and gender, and sex. It feels like either we don't know what to say, or we know what we want to say, but we're not sure that it will be heard, or if it is, that it won't be slammed as being condescending, something from the dark ages, offensive, judgmental, or phobic. But what does God's word say to help us today? If you haven't turned with me already to Ephesians chapter five, please do so. Page 1,244. We're gonna be moving quite quickly through this passage today. Ephesians chapter five, I'm going to read verses one through to 21. Paul is writing. Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and 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 idolatry, has no 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 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. And 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 the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And 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. So you'll see there a little outline of what it is we're talking about this morning. I've given this the title, Live a Life of Love. And that's what I'm praying that each of us will do as a result of what it is we're talking about today. And you'll see from the outline, there are three headings, walk in love, walk in light, and walk in wisdom. Three times that word walk is mentioned. You see it there in verse 2, then again in verse 8, and then again in verse 15. So that's the direction of travel of what it is we're talking about today. And we've talked about this recently. That word walk, it conveys the idea of live, 24-7, living for the Lord Jesus Christ. So then, walk, live in love. That's our first heading. And in the context, you'll remember, Paul is talking and describing what it means for us to be those who are in Christ. How God is doing a recreative activity in us. That's from chapter four, verse 24. He describes how God is recreating every believer. And we talked a little bit last time about how verse 24 of chapter 4 and verse 1 and 2 of chapter 5 act as kind of like bookends towards that ethical piece that he's talking about in the intermediate verses. And here we see it yet again in chapter 5 verse 1. It's echoing this creativity language where Paul says, therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love. Now those who've been saved and believed in Jesus Christ, in whom God's Holy Spirit now lives, says Paul, they're to be imitators of God. Now, it's important for us to get our heads round what he's talking about here. It's important that we get the right perspective on it. Otherwise, we're gonna end up with an empty religious morality without any kind of motivation as to why we're to do what we're to do. When Paul says, be imitators of God, he doesn't simply say it in isolation. He actually gives us motivation as to why we can be imitators of God. It's actually there in verse one. Do you see it? He describes them and us if we're followers of Christ as beloved children. As those who now belong to God's family, if you're in Jesus Christ, this is how you're to live because you're one of the family, says Paul, show the family likeness. That's the direction of travel of these verses. He's not saying behave and then you'll belong. He's saying, behave because you belong. Do you hear the difference? It's very important we recognize that. And we can be imitators of God, says Paul, because of what God is doing in and through us. He's recreating us in his image. We're to show, therefore, his likeness. Now, folks, this is huge. You need to remember, Paul is talking to people like you and me, many of us who are not from a Jewish background. And he's saying, you, you now belong to God's family. You belong. You are beloved. And in light of that love, live a life of love. Walk in love. Have love characterize your 24-7 experience and existence. And to clarify the nature of that love, Paul spells it out for us in verse two. Walk in love as Christ, notice, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. You see, he's talking about Jesus' death on a cross there. And Christ's love is intentional. Christ's love is sacrificial. Christ's love is God glorifying. Christ's love is obedient to his heavenly father. Christ's love is other person centered. Christ's love is grace filled. Christ's love is holy. Christ's love is pure. Christ's love is good. Wouldn't you want to be loved like that? And Paul says, live in light of that love and have that love working in and through you. And notice as well, Christ's love is sacrificial. It recognizes and deals with the reality of our rebellion against God, the truth of our sin. The cross is not a tragic accident. The cross is God's means to bring us into a relationship with God, recognizing the reality and the truth of your sin and my sin. And Christian love recognizes the reality and the truth of our sin. because that's why Jesus died. Now this being Pride Month, you may well hear a great deal said about how love is love, no matter who or how that is expressed. No. God is love. This is what defines God's people. When it comes to love, God's love for us in Jesus Christ. Verse 1, be imitators of God as beloved children. Jesus Christ defines identity. Your identity if you're in Christ. And Paul goes on to describe in verses three through to seven what living out of that place of love will look like. When he says such things that should not be mentioned in verse three there, he isn't saying that we shouldn't do what we're doing today and talking about these things, otherwise the letter couldn't be read out in public. He's getting at the kind of things that are simply not part of the family givens of the characteristics. We don't talk like that around here kind of attitude. And this understanding of love that he's talking about, as I say, it's genuine, it's pure, it's generous, it's holy, it is good. It's for us, it's other person-centered. But this is pretty much going against every value system in the Ephesian psyche, as well as our own today. Now let me try and explain this. Every big city has got its landmarks, doesn't it? New York, it's the Empire State Building. Maybe the Statue of Liberty. Maybe the Chrysler Building if you're not so much into the Empire, but you know what I'm talking about there. Or if you go to Paris, it's the Eiffel Tower. Or if you go to Philadelphia, well, take your pick. You've got the Love Statue, or you've got the Art Museum, Adrian. Or you've got Boathouse Row. You've got a whole thing you could go down there, couldn't you? But in Ephesus, perched on the top of the hill overlooking the city, was a temple dedicated to the worship of the goddess Diana or Artemis. It's one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The city had this temple woven into the fabric of the society. This great building dominated so much of Ephesian life and it was dedicated, as they say, to Diana or to Artemis, who's a goddess of sex and sexuality. It was a sex cult overshadowing the entire city. And everyone knew its significance in Ephesian society. It soaked, it dominated the Ephesian lifestyle. It became part of their worldview, their culture, it was just there. And this helps us understand when you read in places like Acts chapter 19, when Christianity comes to the city, it turns everything on its head. It causes a riot partly because for economic reasons, people aren't gonna worship what's on the top of the hill any longer. And we need to be really clear here, when Paul says, live a life of love, verse 2, there shouldn't be in that a hint of sexual immorality, verse 3. The Bible is not against sex, Paul is not against sex, quite the opposite, or God invented sex. It's a good thing. And Paul isn't being prudish or po-faced. He's not being condescending. He's not being judgmental or offensive or phobic. When the Bible talks about sexual immorality, it's anything outside of a monogamous, heterosexual marriage. And so in verse three, Paul is thinking along the lines of the stuff that's going on in the temple at the top of the hill. But we're gonna talk a little bit more about marriage next week. But if you look at how Paul describes the nature of sexual immorality, whether that's straight or queer or bi or homo or poly or anything else, you'll notice there he lasers in in this verses three through to seven there on the underlying problem. It's covetousness. It's mentioned in verse three. It also comes up again in verse five. And with that is greed. And what I want and how I want it is what he's getting at here. Such a person, says Paul, who expresses themselves in that kind of a way, is an idolater, that's verse five. He's talking about this covetousness which says, I want that. And the human heart, said one theologian, is an idol factory. We take good things, like sex, and we make them into ultimate things. And that's the problem when it comes to issues of sex and sexuality in our society. To the extent that... And this is another thing that we make a little idol. Our identity. And we wrap these things up together. Our identity is what matters more than anything else. And we've made that into an idol as well, and we couple those two things together, that becomes an idol. That kind of self-identification as whatever it is. Psalm 135 warns against the dangers of that. Psalm 135 verse 18 says this, those who make them, that's idols, become like them. And so do all who trust in them. So whether we buy the idolatry of I can do what I want, how I want, when I want, with whom I want, or we condone it, We become like it. And driving that desire is a desire to please me. Greed, selfishness. And folks, can I say this? Without Jesus, whoever we are, if we are continuing to live in that place of sexual immorality, we're living in a place, says Paul, that will ultimately, verse six, lead us to the wrath of God. Now, some might say, well, how loving is that? Really? But remember two things. First of all, that the kindness and the justice and the fairness of God is seen in the fact that he sends his son to overcome the barrier that separates all of us from God. You see, Jesus willingly suffers and dies, and he suffers God's judgment on the cross so that we do not have to. That's what's going on at the cross when he dies. So you need to bear that in mind. And secondly, you need to bear this in mind. We need to bear in mind the kindness of God when he tells us about this future judgment, when we will stand before him. and each of us will be judged. And he tells about it way before it happens, along with the offer of rescue that he gives to us in Jesus Christ, in the message of Jesus Christ. And yet, despite all of that, despite our treatment of God, despite our rejection of him, the Bible talks all about how God goes ahead with the rescue plan. You see that in the eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus. People are turning away from him, left, right, and center. And God in his love sends Jesus. It's while we are still sinners that Christ died for us. And that's how much God loves you. He sees the truth about you and who you are better than anyone else can. And if you're not a Christian here today, can I say two things? First of all, you are really welcome. I'm really glad you're here. This is how much God loves you. You don't need to kid yourself before him. You can't, and you need to turn to Jesus Christ. And his kind of love is to characterize followers of Jesus Christ, says Paul. That's to characterize our walking, our living. So one of the most loving things that I can say to you today is if you're involved in some sort of sexual activity outside of a monogamous, heterosexual marriage, either physically, whether that's an affair, or a relationship which is outside of marriage, or emotionally, such as pornography or virtually or mentally, you need to stop. Jesus says you need to repent and you need to go his way because how you are living goes against God's good design for your life. And this applies wherever in our lives we are saying, not just in terms of serious of sexuality and issues regarding sexual immorality, this applies in every area of our lives where we are saying, I know better than God does. Please hear me when I say this, I'm not saying I'm better than you. I stand before you as someone just as broken and in need of a savior as you do. But this is to characterize our church. This kind of gracious, pure, good, holy, other person-centered, kind, intentional, sacrificial, sin-dealing with, as we point to Jesus, love. Does it characterize your relationship with people in our church in that kind of a way? Leads us to the second area, they're connected to one another. First of all, Paul says, walk in love. Secondly, walk in light. Look at verse eight there. It's halfway through the paragraph there, and Paul says, look, don't be partners with them. That's don't associate with those who are peddling some kind of, yeah, believing in Jesus is okay, but you can kind of do your own thing anyway mentality. Paul says, don't go there, for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. And he's gonna go and develop this contrast between darkness and light as we get into chapter six. As Christ's light shines on us and through us, inevitably, that's gonna have an impact on people's lives. Leaving aside that little flashlight and the end of the Father's Day pen, what does light do? Well, it shows up the reality of what's really happening. We have got a shed in our new home. It's boarded up underneath and you can kind of see through the cracks of the boards what's under there. Before we bought the house we had a quick look at it all and we actually unscrewed a couple of the boards and we looked inside and we shone a light into it and underneath that shed there were an old mattress, remains of a kitchen unit, some old shelves, trash. So I was able to say, look, we will buy the property only when the mess is dealt with. And that's what happened. But we needed the light to expose the mess so that the solution could be found. And that seems to be the dynamic of what Paul's getting at here. Notice he says, you are the light. You're not superior, we're not condescending, we're not sanctimonious fault finders, we're children of light. And as we point people to the truth of who Jesus Christ, inevitably, that will shine. And if light shines through us, which it will, if we're obedient to God, and if we're living with integrity, and talking with integrity about the truth of who Jesus is, and what he says about our lives, and what he says about other people, When we're saying and talking all that's good and right and true and trying to decide how best we can please God, then we're to expect two kinds of response. People will either run away from Christ or people will turn to Him. Now we might be on the receiving end of them running away from Christ in terms of rejection of us, but isn't it worth it for Jesus' sake? Our job is to make sure that we point people to Jesus, not serve ourselves by condemning or being self-righteous. And that's going to be hard, but that's the calling. And there seems to be the impetus behind the poem in verse 14 there. Maybe a song based on Isaiah 60 verse 1 or another Christian hymn from the day based on what Paul says back in chapter 2 verses 1 to 3. Remember how Christians, spiritually speaking, have been raised together with Christ. And the call here is, Luke, wake up. Stop being dozy. but consciously, conspicuously allow the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ to shine through you. Do you have that phrase being dozy in this country? No, stop being sleepy. Get with the beat. Wake up, better still. Wake up when it comes to following Jesus. That woke some of you up, didn't it? The back row especially. The point is here, if you are living in the light, live as those who are in the light. Richard was a Christian working in a city in London. He was known as the Christian in the office. He worked really hard. He worked honestly. He prayed regularly for his buddies that he'd have an opportunity to talk to them about Jesus. And one of the challenges he faced was knowing how to work with integrity when it came to corporate hospitality. Some of you guys know this, and some of you women know this as well, that whenever you're dealing with people who are coming from different contexts, often it would involve a big meal, and then a visit to Soho in London, the red light district. And Rich, he would go to the meal, but he'd refuse to go into the strip bars or the strip clubs. And some of his colleagues gave him tremendous grief about it. He wasn't perfect though. He still got on with doing his work. He tried to talk about Jesus with integrity, faithfully praying, being there for his friends. And after a time, I remember him telling the story of how one day, one of his mates turned around to him and went, all right Richard, What's all this truth about Jesus then? Tell me it all. And he explained to him the good news about Jesus. Now he would say that it wasn't him, it was the light of God shining in and through him. Now what will it mean for you to live as light and walk in light where God has placed you? Well, that brings us to the third heading here. We've talked about walking in love. We've talked about walking in light. Thirdly, walk in wisdom, verses 15 to 21. Wisdom in the Bible is not being clever. It's thinking or saying or doing the right thing in the right way at the right time for Jesus' sake. That's what he means when Paul says, look carefully at how you walk. Not as unwise, but as wise. Discernment is how verse 10 talks about it. And the point there is actually a contrast that he makes in verse 18 between those who are drunk and those who are filled with the Spirit. Those who are drunk with wine, verse 18, well, what happens to them? They totter around like a fool. They're stumbling, they're staggering, they're unable to speak properly, their filters have gone. They just talk nonsense. But that's not how we should walk, says Paul. Remember, we've got the Holy Spirit living in us if we put our trust in Jesus. And the idea here is that we allow the Spirit of Jesus Christ to work in us so that Jesus might dwell in us and change us, shaping our hearts and our emotions, challenging those raw nerves, those no-go areas of our lives. And in that sense, the Holy Spirit might cause us to say things that we wouldn't normally say, but they will do us and other people good. Now, verses 19 through to 21, it's one big long sentence. We haven't got much time to talk about it this morning. But when he talks about addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to the Lord in our hearts, he's not suggesting some sort of Christianized opera. You know what I mean? Where we're talking around going, hello, how are you? I am well, and bless you and all that kind of stuff. Maybe that is your thing. But what he's getting at is when we sing together, Or when we sing, it touches our souls in a way that speech can't. It gets at our emotions and our senses in a profound way. It gets to the depths of our soul. And as the Spirit of God continues to do His work deep in us, folks, it's gonna have an impact. It's gonna impact on how we get on with one another, how we're thankful, how we are able to submit to one another out of reverence to Jesus Christ. Because we know that Jesus puts us first. He makes us a priority as he obeys his heavenly father. And so as that spirit begins to work in and through us, we begin to put other people first. We give them time, we listen, we love. And the challenge here is to live wisely. Don't waste your life, says Paul. Don't waste your time. Because the times are evil. But living for Jesus, therefore, is going to be counter-cultural. I hope you realize that. In our society, it will be difficult. What's it gonna look like then? To live a life of love? Means we walk in light, we walk wisely, but we walk in love for Jesus' sake. In terms then of loving friends and family dealing with some of the issues that are addressed in this passage, how do we do that? With love. With a gracious confidence in the truth of Jesus Christ and the good news about him. We do it transparently in his light, clearly, honestly, kindly. and we do it wisely, saying the right things in the right way at the right time for Jesus' sake. This week I read the story of a guy called Beckett Cook. You should look him up. He was a gay man living in Hollywood. His life was changed when he met Jesus in 2009. And he describes the kind of treatment that Christians made at that point. It made a huge impact on his life for good. Quote, I think the key is that your friend unconditionally, no matter what, you love them and pray for them. That's what my sister-in-law did with me. She was an evangelical Christian and knew what I knew, what her beliefs were on sexuality. She held the orthodox view. But I never felt an ounce of judgment from her over the years. She just loved me and prayed for me for 20 long years and it worked. You should read Beckett Cook's story and listen to him. He's a very interesting character. But folks, what will it mean for you to live a life of love? Walk in love. Walk in light. Walk with wisdom. Students, as you go back to high school after the summer, or go into college, or if you walk into the office, and you're hearing a different worldview promoted from what the Bible talks about. Live a life of Christ-shaped love. That means you're there for your kids, you're there for your friends, for Jesus' sake, and pray that you point them to the truth, the good news that they need to hear. And ask God for wisdom and strength to know how best to do that. Ask others who are older and wiser for advice. And talk about these things because, folks, these are big issues we're talking about today, and we need to help one another. And you guys, especially going into high school and college, you are dealing with issues that your parents did not have to deal with. And we want to help you. We want to hear what you've got to say. So help us know how best we can help for Jesus' sake. Maybe you are a Christian here today. Maybe the issues that we've talked about hit upon areas of our lives that we know are just a mess. Maybe it's how we view the opposite sex. Maybe it's how we view our husband or our wife. There's anger, there's resentment, there's pride, there's judgmentalism, there's lust, there's relativizing our sin or saying, well, at least I'm not as bad as they are. You need to repent. You need to stop and turn to Jesus Christ. He sees and knows the truth of every single one of us here. and He is Lord. He defines us. Walk in His love. Walk in His light. Walk in His wisdom. Let's pray together. Maybe just take a wee moment to think through what will it mean for me to live a life of love? for Jesus' sake. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that it is good and it is true. Please would you help us to yield to your grace today and to be imitators of you as your spirit lives in and through us. And we pray these things for Jesus' sake. Amen.