Listen for God’s word to you from Ephesians 5:1-20…
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 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.
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of 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 is 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.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and 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. This is why it is said:
“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. 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.
I grew up with a mother who sang many little songs to me throughout my childhood. Some were Bible songs of one sort or another, others came from the Big Band era that supplied some of her favorite music. One of those songs was entitled Accentuate the Positive, written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, most famously performed by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. I imagine you remember the chorus of the song…
You’ve got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
And don’t mess with Mr. In-Between
For some reason, when I was preparing this message from Ephesians 5, that song kept ringing in my ears. I think it forms a good outline of what Paul has to say here.
ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE
This passage is all about accentuating the positive. Specifically, Paul encourages us, as followers of Jesus, to walk in the way of love. There could hardly be a biblical command more positive than this one… walk in the way of love.
And why should we walk in the way of love? Paul tells us immediately. Because Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. The ultimate example of love was Christ’s death on the cross for our sins. What greater love could there be? Jesus gives us a reason to walk in love, an example of love to follow, and the power of his Spirit by which to walk in love.
To me, this positive command to walk in love provides the all-important context within which we must read the negative commands that follow.
ELIMINATE THE NEGATIVE
Specifically, Paul mentions seven sins to put off. These are not the seven deadly sins of medieval classification (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth) though there is some overlap. And the sins Paul mentions here are deadly enough in their own way.
Each of these seven sins represent the opposite of walking in the way of love. And that’s why we need to eliminate them from our lives as followers of Jesus. These seven practices are not in line with the way Jesus would have us to live. In short, these seven sins do not lead to human flourishing, no matter how much the world might suggest to us that they do.
The first negative that Paul calls on us to eliminate is sexual immorality. In Greek it is one word, Πορνεία. “Pornos” is the Greek word for a prostitute. Most likely, sacred prostitution took place in and around the Temple of the goddess Diana/Artemis in Ephesus. This may be one reason why Paul mentions this sin first in his list of sins that need to be put off by the follower of Christ.
The second negative that Paul calls on us to eliminate is impurity. The Greek word is ἀκαθαρσία and refers to a state of ritual or ceremonial impurity. This kind of ritual impurity could be caused by disease like leprosy or open infection; childbirth and touching a corpse could also render a person ceremonially impure, and thus not allowed to enter the Temple precincts in Jerusalem.
The third negative Paul calls on us to eliminate is greed. The Greek word is πλεονεξία and simply means “to want more”. The tenth commandment speaks against this sin: “Thou shalt not covet.” (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21)
The truth we can discover in Christ is that “enough is enough”. He supplies all our needs so we can let go of our greeds.
The fourth negative Paul calls us to eliminate is obscenity. The word in Greek is αἰσχρότης. It can be translated as “shameful, base, indecent, or obscene”. This is the only place this word is used in the New Testament.
Notice how the negative things Paul calls on us to eliminate from our lives have to do with action, thought, and now speech. The next two words Paul uses also have to do with negative speech.
The fifth negative Paul calls us to eliminate is foolish talk. The Greek word is μωρολογία. And this is the only place in the New Testament where this word is used.
This is a compound word made up of two smaller words: mōrós, which means “dull, without an edge,” and logia which is the word for speech. Paul is warning us against “foolish (moronic) words,” that flow out of a dull, sluggish heart and mind that has lost its edge, its grip on reality.
The sixth negative Paul calls us to eliminate is coarse joking. The Greek word is εὐτραπελία and this is the only place the word is used in the New Testament. The word refers to good-natured wit that is turned into improper or harmful humor.
This is one I struggled with as a young Christian. When I became a Christian, I got involved in church youth group for the first time. Suddenly, I had friends and for some reason I decided to become the clown of our youth group. But sometimes that humor went over the top. Thankfully, one of the youth group leaders, confronted me about the problem in a loving manner. He helped me to both relax and change. He helped me to see that I didn’t need to draw attention to myself to be loved and to be part of the group. That’s really the ultimate solution to putting off these seven deadly sins. Love is the answer. When we know that we are truly loved by God and others, it helps us to change.
So, we have a succession of three words used by Paul that show us just how much trouble we can get into with our words. As someone who talks for a living, I know that speech can be used both for great good and great evil.
All of us probably need to be much more thoughtful in our use of words. As I have said before, every time we speak, we need to ask ourselves: “Is what I am about to say true, kind, necessary and helpful?”
The final negative Paul calls us to eliminate is drunkenness. This word needs no explanation. But it is a hard sin to put off. All addictive behaviors are hard to change. That is why we need help. And thankfully, there are many groups that can help with this bugaboo. If you struggle with addiction to alcohol, seek out an AA group. If you do, it won’t be a sign of weakness, but rather, of strength.
It is important to note that Paul does not say it is wrong to drink alcohol at all. Remember, Jesus turned water into wine and not the other way around. And wine became the central symbol of a sacrament precious to the church for the last two thousand years.
The problem is not with alcohol in and of itself. The problem is with its excessive use which can lead to drunkenness and what our text calls debauchery. The Greek word translated as “debauchery” literally means to live in waste.
The first time I took my friend, Douglas Gresham, out to a restaurant here in the United States, he spoke rather harshly against the waste of most American restaurants. Doug noted how American restaurants give you too much to eat and then they end up throwing so much away. Doug lived what he preached. When we lived with Doug and his wife, Merrie, in Ireland we found that they didn’t waste anything. Unfortunately, I think he was right. Our American culture is known for its waste.
Paul goes on to make clear why we should not allow these negatives, these seven deadly sins, to dominate our lives…
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is 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.
These words can sound very harsh to us. But if the world really is going to hell in a handbasket, don’t you think the world should be warned of that fact?
Thankfully, God’s wrath against sin is not the last word in this passage. Paul goes on to make clear… “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.”
The seven sins Paul mentions define life apart from Christ. But we do not need to be so defined anymore. Once we were part of the darkness, but now we are light in the Lord.
Isn’t that a wonderful expression? We are not simply walking in the light of Christ. We ARE light! We have been made light by the one who said, “I am the light of the world.
LATCH ON TO THE AFFIRMATIVE
Though there are a lot of negatives in this passage in Ephesians 5, the negatives do not have the last word. I love the way Paul sandwiches the negatives between the positive and the affirmative. And there are more affirmatives than negatives.
How do we latch on to the affirmative? Paul tells us how.
First, he shows us that we can displace the negative with thanksgiving. The way to overcome the negatives of speech is to replace them with a positive.
Psychologists have taught us for a long time that the way to get rid of a negative behavior is by displacing it with a positive. If I tell you to stop thinking of pink elephants, of course a pink elephant will pop into your mind. The only way to stop thinking of pink elephants is to start thinking of something else.
What works for thought, works for actions and words as well. If we want to stop speaking negative words, we must displace those negatives with a positive. And what greater positive is there than thanksgiving?
Paul obviously understood the principle of displacement long before modern psychology came along. He understood that the attitude of gratitude can transform our lives.
A second way to latch on to the affirmative is to live as children of light.
Paul does not ask us to do the impossible. First, he says that we are light in the Lord. And since we are light in the Lord, he calls on us to live as children of light.
There is a similar movement in the Ten Commandments. Some people have mistakenly thought that God asked the Israelites to obey the Ten Commandments to earn his favor, but such is not the case. The preface to the Ten Commandments is all important: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
In other words, God reminds the Israelites that he is their redeemer, and in light of that fact, he asks them to live a certain way. It works the same way for us as Christians. God has made us light. Therefore, he asks us to live as children of light.
What does living as children of light look like? It looks like goodness, righteousness and truth. It looks like pleasing the Lord. It looks like having nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather exposing them. Paul makes it clear that we are to eliminate moral darkness and live in the light of Christ. Paul even quotes an early Christian hymn in this regard: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
In the rest of this passage, Paul gives a series of positive exhortations that go along with living as children of light and giving thanks to the Lord.
We can latch on to the affirmative by living wisely, making the most of every opportunity, and understanding what the Lord’s will is. How do we do these things? Partly by soaking ourselves in the Scriptures. That’s how we acquire wisdom. That’s how we understand what the Lord’s will is. But then we must put what we learn from Scripture into action. That’s how we make the most of every opportunity.
And the only way we can have power to do any of this, is to be filled with the Spirit. Paul compares and contrasts being drunk on wine with being filled with the Spirit. In both cases, we come under the influence of something else. We know what happens when one comes under the influence of alcohol. Driving under such an influence is dangerous.
Similarly, when the Holy Spirit fills us, we come under his influence. But driving under the influence of the Holy Spirit produces good results.
Paul names some of those positive, affirmative, results in this passage. One thing that happens when we are filled with the Spirit is that worship overflows from our lips and our lives. Worship is no longer just a duty; it is also a delight. Worship is no longer a drudgery, but a joy. When we are filled with the Spirit we will speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; we will sing and make music from our hearts to the Lord.
Some time ago, Ralph Menconi told me about going to hear a lecture given by the author John Updike. All these years later, Ralph says he still remembers one thing Updike said in his lecture. Updike noted how the American culture in which we live is a “Yes, but…” culture. Perhaps what Updike meant is that as Americans we never give ourselves fully to anything or anyone. We say, “Yes, but what I think is…” “Yes, but the way I want to live is…”
“Yes, but…” may be a good approach when dealing with any human being or purely human endeavor. After all, if we only say “yes” to other human beings all the time, that is the way of totalitarianism.
But when it comes to our relationship with God, we cannot get away with saying, “Yes, but I reserve the right to do things my own way.” God wants our total commitment. And as God he deserves our total commitment to him.
But he does not force us to commit. God gives us the choice. We can say “No” or we can say “Yes”. But when we say “Yes” it must be the “Yes” of total commitment. Or, in the words of the song… “DON’T MESS WITH MR. IN-BETWEEN.”
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