18. The Blessed Christian Life (4)

Posted on Posted in Sermon Notes Tagged with , ,

Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians

Knowing Your Privilege in Christ

 “The Blessed Christian Life (4)”

Ephesians 5:7-11 (KJV) 

7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are yelight in the Lord: walk as children of light. 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit isin all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.


OUTLINE

  • Be Separate (v7-8, 11)
  • Cultivate Spiritual Fruitfulness (v9-10)

INTRODUCTION

The people of God need to be able to see sin for what it really is. The consequence of sin is death. And to be partakers with the children of disobedience will bring God’s judgment! 

Lloyd-Jones observed well, “…these New Testament epistles which were specially written in order to deal with the whole question of sanctification and of a holy walk…”

  • Be Separate (v7-8, 11)

7Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 

He tells the believers to be separate from sinners as Solomon admonished his son in 

Proverbs 1:10 (KJV) 10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

Solomon explained concerning the persuasive rhetoric of sinners to create mischief. Be not partakers with them is the command!

Proverbs 1:11-19 (KJV) 11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: 12  Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: 13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: 14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: 
15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: 16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. 17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.18 And they lay wait for their ownblood; they lurk privily for their ownlives. 19 So arethe ways of every one that is greedy of gain; whichtaketh away the life of the owners thereof.

The word “Be not ye” describes to begin and continue to live a life of watchfulness and vigilance. Be not partakers of sin! It is a command to be serious concerning living a life of holiness.

Indeed, the church is firstly, a privileged people separated from sin unto holiness (Ephesians 1:1-4) – this is what it means to be “Chosen by the Father”. 

8For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are yelight in the Lord: walk as children of light.

John 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

2 Corinthians 4:3-6 (KJV) 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to givethe light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

The Apostle Paul said paraphrased well verse 11 in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (KJV) 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

In verses 14-16a, he urged them to examine their associations, their external relations, what are the people that you keep company with, that are called your friends. This is summarized by the statement “Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers”. 

The word “unequally yoked” is a compound word consisting of the word “another” and the word “yoke”. This word “another” is “another of a different kind (heteros)”, not (allos) “which is another of the same kind”. The word “yoke” is from the root word “to join” especially by a yoke or a coupling, figurative it means a servitude (a law or obligation), also literally a beam of balance, connecting together. Therefore, when one is joined with another of a different kind, there is a mismatch! 

This illustration taken from the Old Testament law in Deuteronomy 22:10 “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.” It prohibits putting the ox which is a clean animal to plow together with the donkey, an unclean animal. Their temperaments, natural instincts and physical characteristics made it impossible to pull a straight plow, it is a mismatch! By this analogy, Paul is teaching them that it is not right in God’s sight to join hand in hand with unbelievers, it just does not work out to God’s glory! It becomes a bondage for you, a servitude or obligation.

This is followed by 5 rhetorical questions or wake up calls to help them see their foolishness! And each rhetorical question beginning with the interrogative pronoun “what” must necessitate a negative answer! 

(1) For what fellowship (partnership/sharing) hath righteousness with unrighteousness (lawlessness)? None! 

(2) And what communion (sharing in common fellowship – worship) hath light with darkness? None!

(3)15 And what concord (harmony, agreement – symphony) hath Christ with Belial (Satan)? None!

(4) or what part (portion – dividing of a share of booty, in common) hath he that believeth with an infidel (unbelieving/faithless)? None! 

(5)16 And what agreement (union) hath the temple of God with idols? None!

The doctrine of separation from sin unto God is a fundamental principle of the Bible, one grievously ignored in the church today. And Scripture teaches a separation that is based on the holiness of God, producing purity in all of life both personal and ecclesiastical. This statement is taken from the constitution of the BP Church article 6! 

The call to separation is a solemn command of Scripture, a directive to be obeyed for the well-being of the Christian for the purity and protection of the church. The Church of Jesus Christ is commanded to be separate from the world and all that is of the world. The very word Church (“Ekklesia“) means “an assembly called out”. 

Brethren, whilst we are in the world, we are not of the world. “It is said that the word is a net, the more we stir in it, the more we are entangled.”

The Apostle Paul had to teach this doctrine without apology to the church in Corinth with such urgency because there were those in the Corinthian Church who have not separated themselves from pagan religions are polluted by the influence and is affecting their personal purity. This influence permeates the church. It is like a cancer permeating in an affected organ, within a short time, it can claim the life of the person infected. I was told that lung and pancreas cancer are silent killers because there are no nerves on the lung and pancreas. When they are detected it is usually in the late stage. It is just like the time when Moses is up on Mount Sinai communing with God and the children of Israel made for themselves a golden calf to worship! 

The message is critical, and the Apostle Paul urges them with careful gentleness, speaking the truth in love, to assure them that he has no other motive but their salvation and sanctification.

It is like persuading a Christian teenage son taking his “A” Levels from spending too much time on the phone with his non-Christian girlfriend whom the son seemed to be mesmerized. If you press too hard and push too hard, it can turnhim off and his heart is hardened to rebel. It is a tight rope. It is a delicate matter agonizing to influence the son for his good. The Apostle Paul is persuading his listeners to take remedial actions to repent from associations with unbelievers and to be restored to the blessings of spiritual purity by serving only the living and true God, Jesus Christ!

This is a command, a solemn call to the members of the church in Corinth to break free, to withdraw, be disconnected, be purified from pagan idolatry which they have come out of but the lingering influence is still polluting their lives. Corinth was a Greek city. The people in Corinth worship Greek gods with shrines to Apollo, Hermes and Poseidon. Corinth had a famous temple dedicated to Asclepius, the god of healing. The most significant pagan cult in Corinth was the temple of Aphrodite on top of Acropolis. Corinth is known for its sexual immorality and licentious life-style, an inevitable outworking of idolatrous worship. We remember in 1 Corinthians that Paul had to deal with the problems of immorality, warning against sexually immoral people in the church. 

  • Come out from among them (v17a)
  • And be ye separate (v17b)
  • Touch not the unclean thing (v17c)

I know of one who married an unbeliever two years back. Before her marriage my wife and I had the opportunity to talk to the couple that their union is an unequal yoke. The man is not a believer. The woman choose to marry because she was getting older and therefore felt she cannot wait. Also, the man seemed most compatible, they have the “husband and wife look”, so observed some of their friends. They “relate well” with each other so she said. It was amidst thunder and lightning when I shared with them the consequences of this unequal yoke. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14) After the marriage, she moved in with him to the house of his brother, a man who since he leaving the army sport long hair and put on make-up and worships this Thai Buddhist god. The house that she now stays is a house temple. There is a donation box at the side of the entrance with the words in Mandarin “Give with a loving heart”. Surrounded by idols, I can see how her soul is vexed day to day. Yet, she seemed to harden her heart. She still tries to come to church on the Lord’s Day, alone. She is not able to pray with her husband and I could sense the great spiritual warfare when I was in their home to visit them. Today after two years, she hardly comes to church!

The Bible is very clear right from the beginning of Scripture. Remember in Genesis 1:4, God divided/separated/set an interval between light from darkness! In Genesis 3:15 after the fall, God said to Serpent or Satan, “I will put enmity between your seed and the seed of the woman!” Separation! Separation is fundamental both to creation and to the existence of the nation of Israel. 

In Genesis 4 is described for us the ungodly line that came through Cain separated from the godly line that came through Seth in Genesis 5. Cain was a self-willed man who did what was right in his own eyes. He killed his brother Abel because God did not accept his “any o how” worship, it must have grieved the heart of Adam and Eve so much! When Cain married one of the daughters of Adam, he had a son Enoch, this is not the godly Enoch who walked with the living and true God in Genesis 5:22-24. Cain named a city after his son Enoch! God was never in his consideration, instead of glorifying God, he glorified his son. 

We saw in chapter 5 that Enoch walked with “the God”. In the original, there is a definite article attached to the word “God” to highlight that Enoch lived a godly life, walking with the living and true God. The world at that time was so wicked that within ten generations from Adam to Noah, God had to judge the world by a global flood. Enoch lived a life separated from pollutions of the world of his time. He did not die for the Bible says he was translated, for God took him! 

When we get to chapter 12, Abraham separated himself from his family in the Ur of the Chaldees. As we go through these chapters, right is separated from wrong, darkness from light, and truth from error, there is indeed a lawlessness, a moral chaos in this world that is intolerable when God is the sovereign Lord of all. Hence, the Apostle Paul is highlighting the purpose of the church as salt and light in this sin ridden world. But the salt that is compromised with the world will lose its saltiness and is good for nothing and the light that is hid under a bushel, but a deliberate act of disobedience, cannot function as a beacon, it loses sight of the purpose it is made for! 

In Genesis 4, the great great grandson of the ungodly Enoch is called Lamech. This is not the godly Lamech in chapter 5 who is the father of Noah. 

This ungodly Lamech started the first polygamy, Genesis 4:19 “And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.” You will notice that there was a rapid development of culture and materialism. 

Genesis 4:20-22 “And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.”

It’s very much like Singapore today. In the past 10 years, there is a thriving art scene, there is material prosperity. At the same time, man’s depravity sinks deeper and deeper. This ungodly Lamech was an violent murderer. Genesis 4:23-24 “And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.”

I have killed a man for wounding me and I have killed a boy who got into his way, and perhaps bumped me and I killed him! Anyone who wants to avenge his blood will suffer seventy and seven fold. He lived the way he pleased in defiance of God. Total disregard of the sanctity or sacredness of human life, made in the image of God! At least Cain was afraid and pleaded with God and God spared his life but this man Lamech’s violent behaviour is much worse. He kills a man that is not enough, he kills a boy, all in perhaps a day’s work. He was a self-willed man, did what was right in his own eyes. Such heinous crime multiplied so much by chapter 6 that God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of the hearts was only evil continually (Gen 6:5), the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence and it grieved Him at his heart (Gen. 6:6) that he had to judge the earth by a global flood.

  • Cultivate Spiritual Fruitfulness (v9-10)

9(For the fruit of the Spirit isin all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 

Indeed, as we saw in Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Biblical “goodness” is an active goodness,  it  an energetic principle, it is the generosity which springs from the heart that is kind and will always take care to obtain for others that which is useful or beneficial. It is character energized, expressing itself in benevolence. [Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament] 

The word is a compound word “ἀγαθωσύνη” with the adjective “good” and a quality ending. It speaks of uprightness in character, it speaks of good character. Biblical goodness is opposite to badness, evil, malice, mischievousness, malignity, selfishness. It is an attitude that seeks to do good. [The Quest for Character, John Mac Arthur, 96]

The outworking of biblical “goodness” is applied in Galatians 6:9-10, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” The fruit is manifested 

  • Not weary in well-doing – Developing a Courage and Consistency for doing good
  • Doing good to all men, especially believers – Developing a consistency of good works beginning with our family!

(a) Not weary in well-doing – Developing a Courage and Consistency for doing good

Not to lose heart or lose courage in doing good come with a promise of reward – in due season we shall reap. “Well-doing requires continued effort, constant toil; but human nature, being fond of ease, lacks staying power, is easily discouraged. This is especially true when results are not always apparently at once, when those who should help refuse to co-operate, and when no reward seems ever coming our way.” [New Testament Commentary, Galatians William Hendriksen, 238] Perseverance in good works is a product of God’s grace, the Spirit blessed fruit. The power to persevere is from Him; the responsibility is ours.

This principle the Apostle Paul learnt from our Lord Himself, Acts 20:35 “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Just as our Lord Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”

Such a motivation to do good lies upon the Spirit-filled conscience each time we come in contact with someone, whether a close relative, a friend or a stranger, who ask for our help. 

Sam Gordon observes well, “The light of God’s Spirit has shone into our hearts and the profound effect on us is as visible as fruit (karpos) on a tree. Therein lies the transforming power of the gospel of the grace of God. We see, therefore that goodness is linked to our interpersonal relationships. Righteousness zooms in on our relationship with God and truth relates to our personal integrity. This trilogy is reminiscent of the statement in Micah 6:8 that God requires human beings “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

A man returning from a journey brought his wife a matchbox that glows in the dark. After giving it to her she turned out the light, but the matchbox could not be seen. Both thought they had been cheated. Then the wife noticed some French words in the box and asked a friend to translate them. The inscription said: “If you want me to shine in the night, keep me in the light.”

By way of application, we need to spend quality time alone with Jesus – the Light – in prayer, “exposing our lives like photographic plates to his presence so that his image, his character, is burnt into ours” (Kent Huges). If we do this, we will be like Moses when he descended from the summit of Sinai after being alone with God. – his face shone with the light of God!