Ephesians 5:3,4 - Let there be no filthiness

5:3

Paul now lists some things that should not be present among us. “There must not be even a hint of sexual immorality”. All the gospels, all the letters, in fact all of the Bible, warn against sexual immorality. Yet so often the church is scared or reluctant to talk about this. It is also an area where the state is explicitly promoting sexual immorality in various forms. Sex was created by God as a good gift, and a very powerful gift. It is so powerful that is potentially life creating! But it is powerful in so many ways, having an enormous effect emotionally and psychologically. Any attempt to claim it is just a physical act goes against all empirical evidence. It is because it is so powerful that sex is restricted to one place only, marriage between one man and one woman. We deviate from this at our peril, and will reap the consequences if we do so. Any impurity, or greed are also ruled out. Greed is destructive, and goes against the whole ethos of God’s kingdom. We are given things in order to bless each other, not to horde for ourselves.

5:4

Obscenity, foolish talk and coarse joking are also out. These things are “out of place”. If we look at society we see that the things warned about here are prevalent in our society. We need to avoid these things. Our speech should be positive and upbuilding, so we should replace the inappropriate speech with thanksgiving. Enter His courts with thanksgiving, as it says in Psalm 104.

Isaiah 42:2-5 - A bruised reed He will not break

42:2-4

Most men (and women) when they think they can achieve something make a big noise about it, they are also often brutal about those who are weak. The Lord's servant is very different. First he does not make a big noise, going around shouting about how great he is. Now this does not mean he does not make an impact, Jesus made an enormous impact, but not in the way common to men. Those who are wounded or are faltering are not cruelly discarded.  Instead he brings forth justice, with unfailing resolve. He is not easily discouraged, and does not give up until he has accomplished what he set out to do. The islands put there hope in him, the distant lands. Of course, it is only Christ who fulfils this perfectly, but these characteristics are ones we are all to aspire to.

42:5

God now speaks directly, and He begins by reminding the hearers who He is. We all do well to remind ourselves just who God is, for so often we act as if He does not have the characteristics we read of hear. He created the heavens , stretching them out. One could see this as speaking of the expanding universe. In particular He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to its people. Everyone we see is alive only because God says so. This applies to us, and to everyone else, even those who seek to oppose God or us.

Ephesians 5:1,2 - Walk in love

5:1

“Follow God’s example ...” This is quite an amazing statement in many ways. We were created in God’s image, we are, in many ways, meant to be like Him. Then it supports the divinity of Jesus. How do we know how to be like Him? We look at Jesus and see how He lived, for Jesus is God.

“As dearly loved children”. We are to obey, but it is not a matter of obeying out of terror, out of fear of punishment, but as dearly loved children”. We are children of God, for when we believe we are adopted into His family, and we are dearly loved. There are times when we may feel alone or vulnerable, in those times we should always remind ourselves that we are actually dearly loved children of God.

5:2

So how do we follow God’s example? By living a life of love, just as Christ loved us. He gave himself up for us as a “fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”. This is no sentimental mushy love, but a  love that might well involve a great cost. We also see here that Christ is an example. There many debates about what the cross was all about. We actually see several of those aspects in this verse. First, Christ’s death was a sacrifice, a sacrifice that the Levitical sacrifices were pointing forward to, Jesus was punished in our place. It was also an act of love, not just towards us, but an act of love between the Father and the Son. Then it was an example for us to learn from. We go wrong when we emphasise one aspect at the expense of others, or even reject some aspects altogether. The most common one that is rejected by some is the penal substitution aspect of the cross, ie Jesus taking the judgement that should have been upon us. This is a grievous mistake, for it is the foundation on which everything else stands.

Isaiah 42:1 - Behold my servant

42:1

We now get the first of the “servant songs” in Isaiah. We have just had two chapters filled with promises and declarations of the greatness of God and of His love for His people. People so often get upset about the greatness of God, objecting to the call to worship Him. But have you noticed who the prime beneficiaries of God’s greatness and glory are? Us! It should certainly be a delight to worship God.

We see here some key characteristics of the servant. There are arguments about whether the servant refers to Israel or to Jesus. In some places things seem obvious (especially Isaiah 53), but there is also a deliberate ambiguity. For Jesus is the man we were all meant to be, and the one we are to become like. The nation of Israel should have been a beacon to the world, but failed miserably, repeatedly sinning against God, as have we all. So Christ is the only full representation of the servant, but the descriptions are also a promise, an indication of our destiny in Christ, of what He is transforming us into.

So back to the characteristics of the servant outlined in this verse. First he is the servant of the Lord. We need to remember that, the church needs to remember it. We are to serve the world, but we are not servants of the world. We are servants of the Lord and are to take our instructions and guidance from Him. 

God upholds His servant. We do not live dependent only upon our own power, but knowing that God actively upholds us. We are chosen by the Lord. Jesus told His disciples that they did not choose Him, but He chose them. We are chosen by the Lord. Moreover, this was not done reluctantly, for the Lord delights in His servant, He actually delights in us!

He puts His Spirit in us. With Christ this was seen at His baptism, but all of us have received the same Spirit. And we should expect God to give us more of His Holy Spirit. Things will happen, and He will do things for us that go beyond anything we can comprehend or imagine.

Jesus is the Lord who brings justice, but He works through His faithful church. When we walk in step with the Spirit we will find that God works through us to bring justice to the nations. 

Ephesians 4:30-32 - Do not grieve the Holy Spirit

4:30

“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit”. The Holy Spirit is not a force nor a “thing”, He is a person, the third person of the Trinity, and we are in a relationship with God. When we act in ungodly ways we grieve the Holy Spirit. For we have been sealed for the day of redemption. God has set aside a day when His work in us will be brought to completion, when we will be completely redeemed from all the effects of sin. That is the purpose in being saved, it is not merely a matter of escaping the penalties of sin.

4:31

So how are we to avoid grieving the Holy Spirit? We do so by getting rid of bitterness, rage, anger, bawling, slander and malice. Note the implicit assumption that it is possible for Christians to have these things! The Bible has a very realistic attitude about sin and the human condition. So if and when we experience these things we should get rid of them as soon as possible. The world system encourages us to form into groups and to hate people who are not in our “tribe”. The gospel encourages us to love everyone, including our enemies. This does not mean we agree with everyone, nor pretend that everyone is right. The world in its pathetic attempts to find unity is increasingly using the ill-founded concept of “hate crimes”, so if you disagree with someone, or say that their way is wrong that means you hate them.

4:32

Instead of anger etc, we are to be kind and compassionate. If someone does something against us, instead of going to war with them, we forgive, “just as in Christ God forgave you”. Forgiveness is the oil that makes the kingdom work. Without forgiveness any church, any plan, will seize up. For we all get things wrong, often unintentionally, sometimes deliberately. If the basis for a relationship is the other person never doing anything wrong, then that relationship is doomed to failure. Forgiveness is the essential oil of the kingdom.

Isaiah 41:25-29 - See, they are all false!

41:25

Later on the “one stirred up” will be identified as Cyrus. This is one of the prime reasons why so many insist that 40-66 is written not by Isaiah, by a “second Isaiah”. However, we should bear in mind one of the key purposes of Isaiah, which is to demonstrate that God is the sovereign Lord, including the Lord of history. In this case the unity of Isaiah makes far more sense. Nations rise and nations fall, and they are responsible for their actions, but it is the Lord who determines the course of history. “He treads on rulers ...” Most of the time Israel acted as if it was the nations and their rulers who determined the course of history, so Israel acted out of fear and so trusted in anyone and anything but God. She needed to know that compared to God the nations were nothing at all. Today we need the same attitude. There are Christians in many countries who experience serious persecution, in the West it seems that ungodly forces have dominion. We need more than ever to trust in God.

41:26-29

This verse stresses the truth that God knows what is going on and what will happen. More than that, He determines history. The idols did not, the things we may fear today do not actually rule. The Assyrian episode was a demonstration of the truth of all this. The idols could foretell nothing at all, they could only speak lies.

Ephesians 4:28,29 - Do not steal, but work

4:28

We now get down to specific actions, and those who had been stealing must stop and do something useful with their lives instead. Note first that the gospel was reaching all sorts of people, including those who were criminals. This is what the gospel was designed for. Then note that there is transformation, transformation from someone who is a drain on society to someone who is useful, from someone who does bad to someone who does good. Too often we think “we must reach the sinner”, without the accompanying thought of “the sinner needs to be transformed”. It is not a matter of you need to change before you come into the kingdom, but that you come into the kingdom in order to be changed. Coming into the kingdom to stay exactly as you were is a deeply unbiblical concept.

4:29

“Do not let unwholesome talk come out of your mouths”. This is something we need to watch today, for there has been an enormous increase in unwholesome talk in society. There is far more swearing on the media than there used to be, and much talk is about doing people down. The converse of this is that we are to speak to build others up “according to their needs”. So sometimes this might be correcting someone, but if so it is always done with the purpose of helping someone, of “benefiting those who listen”.