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Women World Leaders' Podcast


Jan 18, 2023

As God’s children, we are called to live in love. What does that mean? Today, let’s study together the apostle Paul’s words to the Ephesians as we learn to love like Jesus. (Ephesians 5:1-14)

 

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Welcome to Walking in the Word, a Women World Leaders’ podcast – I’m Julie Jenkins, and I am excited you have joined us today! Our prayer is that through this trio of podcasts, your intimacy with God will grow and your love for one another will flourish, enabling you to live out a courageous purpose driven life, fueled by the Word, led by the Spirit, and propelled forward into your God given destiny through fearless faith!

This is our Wednesday edition of the Women World Leaders’ podcast – Walking in the Word – where we study the Bible as we pray that God will show us how it applies to our lives today. Today, we are going to take a step into Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 1-14.

Let me begin by praying for us…

Dear Heavenly Father – today I thank you for your wisdom. You never fail to guide us and lead us in the path we should go. Your light always shines bright, leading us to a path that is perfect and is beyond our wildest imaginations. I ask you to shine that light right now – give us the wisdom that only you can provide as we walk through this passage together and as we carry this Word in our hearts all day. We praise you and thank you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

I invite you to sit back and listen as I read Ephesians 5:1-14, from the New Living Translation…

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us[a] and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,

“Awake, O sleeper,
    rise up from the dead,
    and Christ will give you light.”

 

 

This section of scripture is taken from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. He is writing to them about unity in the body of Christ – and he is reminding us that we who are now Christians, are held to a higher standard of living than that which was expected of us before we were followers of Christ. Now, we are called to be GOD’S people – which looks VERY different than being the world’s people. Because holding ourselves to this standard doesn’t come naturally, Paul provides instruction as to how we can take steps to look more like Christ. And looking like Christ IS the ultimate goal of the Christian – both in Paul’s day and today.

First, Paul says, imitate God! I love this! I can remember growing up and getting SO frustrated when someone else would copy my ideas – and my mom always told me, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The word imitation means the action of using someone or something as a model. Ooo – I like that word picture! Still – when we think of imitations, we can have mixed feelings. An imitation diamond certainly isn’t as nice as a real diamond – unless, perhaps, you are the one paying for it!

But in this case, imitation is good – because our God is perfect in holiness, and being holy is what we long for. So Paul ENCOURAGES us to imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Notice the order – we are NOT God’s children BECAUSE we imitate Him, but we imitate Him because we are His children. And as His children with the Holy Spirit living in us, we have a front row seat to WHO God is – and His goodness and light draw us, and create a desire in US for goodness and light.

Have you ever seen a child doing everything he our she can to look like mom or dad? Maybe it’s a young child trying on high heels and lipstick like mom, or wanting to wear a tie like dad. As children grow, they see deeper into the souls of their parents, and often their longing to be like them grows deeper, too. Perhaps the daughter, as she grows, wants to reach out and help others like her mom, or to become as generous as his dad.

When we first confess our belief in Christ and give ourselves to Him, we may WANT to look like God, but often at that point we can only see God and His attributes from the surface. As we grow and mature in our Christian walk, and God opens our vision more and more as we study him from our front row seats, we long to be like God on a deeper and deeper level.

One of the deepest wells in God’s being is His unfathomable love. Paul tells us to imitate God by living a life of love. God loves YOU! Jesus loves you so much that He offered HIMSELF as a sacrifice for YOU.

Do you realize that Jesus could have called on THOUSANDS of angels to whisk Him away from the Garden of Gethsemane, to lift the cross He carried off His shoulders, and to usher Him down from the cross in glory? Just one utterance from Jesus’ mouth would have kept Him from the pain and humiliation He endured at the end of His physical life here on earth. But instead, when Jesus was in the Garden being arrested, He went willingly. He endured insults and jokes made on his behalf. He stood resolutely while people spit in his face repeatedly. He allowed his body to be beaten to within an inch of death. He withstood emotional humiliation as he was tied up and led like cattle from one leader to another – all claiming Jesus’ GUILT, but no one quite agreeing what he was guilty of. Jesus resolutely carried His cross for YOU, even when He could barely walk. And then He allowed Himself to be killed and experienced separation from God so you and I will never have to. Jesus did this all out of His love for us.

How in the world do we imitate THAT? We can’t imitate WHAT Jesus did – and we aren’t called to. But we can and should remember WHY Jesus suffered and endured for us – because He LOVES us. And by seeking to respond with LOVE for others…the Holy Spirit will guide us into the path He has for each of us.

1 Peter 4:8 teaches us “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.”

Our love for others is our response to, and a reflection of, God’s love for us. Perhaps as you are listening, the Holy Spirit is convicting you – and you immediately KNOW where and how you can love better. If you are getting a message from the Holy Spirit now, I encourage you to turn off this podcast and tune into Him, resolutely determined to follow His will.

For those of you still with me…allow me to continue… because Paul continues, giving us instructions as to what love looks like…

Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you.

We live in a society where sexual immorality, impurity, and greed are – at the very minimum, widely accepted. But there is nothing loving or godly about any of these actions or desires.

Sexual immorality and impurity are sins that harm others deeply and create ripple effects of pain. The hard truth is we never know how far-reaching the effects of our sin will be.

And greed, wanting more and more, threatens to undo our love for others, causing jealousy and hurt! We don’t need to have feelings of greed simply because our God is perfect – and as such, He is the perfect giver of all good gifts! He knows exactly what we need, and we can trust His perfect provision. Freeing ourselves from our greedy desires makes room in our hearts for love to grow.  

Paul continues…saying stay away from obscene stories, foolish talk and course jokes.

In other words…use positive, uplifting words! God is pure, and to look like Him, our stories, speech and jokes should be pure as well. Paul says, if you don’t know where to begin, begin with giving God thanks – what a great way to use our words!

The next verse, verse 5, may be a bit of a conundrum for some, it says:  You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

To understand this verse, we need to follow two guidelines to studying the Bible: First, always interpret Scripture WITH Scripture, knowing that the Bible will never contradict itself. And second, always evaluate the meaning of scripture based on the original intended audience.

So first…what does OTHER scripture say about this topic? We are taught in many places throughout the Bible that God’s forgiveness, when we give our lives to him, is complete and everlasting. 1 John 1:9 says “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” And Romans 8:16 and 17 says “For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs.” – so how do we reconcile that THIS verse seems to say that if we are immoral, impure or greedy, we will not inherit the Kingdom of God?

Let’s look at our 2nd guideline – what did this mean for the original, intended audience? This letter was written to the Ephesians, and some of them were arguing that believers could live in sin and get away with it – that since God offers the Christian grace, it doesn’t matter what we do, we will always be forgiven. Paul is responding to this claim, saying this is not so! He states that a TRUE Christian WILL be struck with the desire to WANT to be like and follow God – just like the child who idolizes his or her parent and wants to, at a very basic level, BE like them by dressing like them, so the true Christian WANTS to be like God. So, Paul is not saying that sin breaks the Christian’s eternal bond with God, but unchecked sin may be a sign that the individual has not given his or her life to Christ in the first place.

 As Christians, we WILL still sin, but as we mature in our Christianity and yield to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we WILL want to sin LESS. Paul explains further…

Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.

Child of God – our Father WANTS you to be like Him – and the overriding way that we can be like Him is to love. When we give our lives to Christ, we are infused with the power of the Holy Spirit, who gives us His light so that we can see more clearly what God’s love looks like. He gives us eyes to see Him more deeply each and every day that we walk with Him. And, the more we know, the more He holds us accountable. Like the parent who expects GREAT things from her child because she knows that God has created her to make an impact on the world, God has created you to make an impact by reflecting His love and light to a hurting and broken world. God wants YOU to be part of the solution – He has a job for you!

So, in Paul’s words…

10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 

“Awake, O sleeper,
    rise up from the dead,
    and Christ will give you light.”

Let’s pray…

Dear Father God – we WANT to look like you! We want to walk in your ways and shine your light in this ever-darkening world. As we walk today, help us put our own agendas aside, and instead walk by YOUR agenda. When we are persecuted, give us the grace to show love. When we see evil, let us speak the truth in love. When we see injustice, give us wisdom to react as you would have us react. Thank you for calling us your dearly loved children. Let us never forget that that is the most important title that we hold. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.