Ephesians 5:3-7 – Berris Patience – 2026 01 04

3 But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; 4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them; (NASB 1995)

Transcript:

Well good morning and uh, happy new Year to each and everyone. We are grateful to have you join us once again, invite you to turn in your copy of God’s Word to the book of Ephesians. We’ve been making our way for those that are visiting. We’ve been making our way through the entire book of Ephesians and we have come to Ephesians chapter five and we’ll be looking at verses three to seven this morning into this afternoon last week. We look at the first two verses and we’re gonna continue verses three to seven this morning. Just by way of context, I’ll go back to verse one of chapter five, Paul Wright, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you as is proper among saints. And there must be no filthiness or foolish talk or vulgar joking which are not fitting but rather given thanks or given off. Thanks for this, you know, with certainty that no sexual immoral person or I impure, greedy person, which amounts to idol, an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God, see that no one deceives you with empty words for because of these things. The wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, therefore, do not become partakers with them. Father, we are grateful to you for your grace, your mercy, and your love. And I pray that your spirit will guide my thoughts, my words as I present your truth, your people. And again, Lord, we ask that your word will not just fall in deaf ears but will apply to our lives and we will seek with every fiber for beings to live this separate, the set apart life that you’ve called us to live for Christ’s sake. Amen. Wanna speak on the topic, living the set apart life as we see from the verse with verse three for um, among saints. So living the set apart life. And here’s a statement from Jim Brook. My fear today is that many churches are dying because the average person in their pews have no idea what it means to be set apart from the defilements of this world. The church in many areas is so worldly, it is difficult to see any real separation from the world. We dress as provocatively as the world. Our entertainment is as vouched as the world and we are as preoccupied with the same secular trinkets as the world end quote in this passage that we are going to look at again, Paul highlights and he has been doing this throughout Ephesians and he’s nailing the head the nail. He is driving the nail right on the head and he seems to be repeating himself a lot, but it’s necessary and is absolutely essential that he’s repeating himself because he wants the people to get this. He wants this to be the lifestyle of these individuals, especially when he looks at the world that is around them. And knowing that these people, these members in the church came out of that lifestyle and as it is so common for some people they think it’s Jesus plus whatever lifestyle they were living in. Paul wants to say no, that is not who you are now. That’s who you once were. That was who you were prior to Christ and this is how you’re now expected to live. So set, set apart or being set apart implies being chosen and implies being chosen in scripture. Set apart is never first about behavior, but it’s about belonging. It’s about belonging, it’s about being in Christ in the scripture. The concept of being set apart does not primarily refer to the outward actions, even though it does. And it should amount to this, it doesn’t necessarily, uh, primarily refer to the outward actions or moral performances of the individuals. Instead, it is a deeply rooted or it is deeply rooted in the idea of belonging to Jesus Christ, belonging to God, we’re set apart to God and that’s how the term is typically phrased. We’re set apart to God, then we’re set apart for the purposes of God. So it’s first and foremost belonging and belonging to God. The foundation of holiness in the Bible is not what we do, but to whom we belong. And of course because of us belonging to Christ and we’re gonna see this as we make our way through the text and through the the sermon. But because of who we belong to and who we are in Christ, this should be the motivational factor. This should spur us on to now living that holy life. And again, we’ll see this so it first of all, the foundation as I repeat this, the foundation for holiness in the Bible is not what we do, but who we belong to or to whom we belong. For example, Israel was set apart not because of their inherent goodness, not because of what they have accomplished but because of God. And in his sovereign grace chose them as his special people. And if we remember Deuteronomy chapter seven, um, Moses remind them, it’s not because you’re better than the other nations. All these seven nations that Moses listed, they say you’re not, you weren’t better than them. You weren’t more powerful than them. You weren’t more stronger than them. They were more powerful than you. Any one of these nations could have wiped you out clean, but you were set apart. You’re chosen by God for his grace, by his grace, by his mercy. So it wasn’t, they weren’t as a nation set apart because of what they could accomplish or their inherent goodness. It’s God in his grace and mercy and sovereignty did that their identity as God’s chosen nation came before the command for them to live differently. And similarly we find in the New Testament, the church is described as set apart because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. He has redeemed us. Our distinctiveness flows from what Christ has done on our behalf. In other words, how we live flows from the fact that God, through Jesus Christ has redeemed us by His grace. For his purpose. Christ purchased us. God called us as his own and has made us members of his family. And again, we’ve seen all of these things as we have been making our way through this book. This identity forms the basis then for our holiness. So that’s because of who we are, because who we belong to. It forms our identity of holiness. And we saw that in the first two verses. Be imitators of God as beloved as dear children. So rather than beginning with an exhausting pursuit of perfection, true holiness starts with embracing our status as God’s beloved people. As we saw in verse one. Therefore, holiness is not a ladder that we climb through personal effort, but a calling we have received and a life to live out on a daily basis because you and I belong to God. Our lives are to reflect who God is. Our lives are to reflect his character, his nature, his being. Again, going back to verses one and two, because of who we are, because we belong to him. We’re supposed to be representing him, we’re supposed to be looking like him and we’re not doing this to earn his approval, but it’s an outworking of our identity that we have in Christ. This is a genuine transformation that we get from knowing who we are in Christ. And the more in depth we get in our knowledge of God and who God is in his being, in his holiness, then that should spur us on and will spur us on to become more holy. In our walk with God again, we’ve been reminded, God says, be holy. You will be holy. Why? Because I am holy. This is or this command is not simply a call for moral perfection or a checklist of religious duties. Rather it is an invitation for us, for you and I to share in God’s own identity. Holiness in this sense means being set apart by God for God reflecting God’s holiness, reflecting God’s who God is reflecting God’s love, respect, reflecting purity. It is being set apart to live for God. Just as God is wholly unique and separate from all that is common, that and from all that is defiled. He desires his heart’s desire for his people. His heart’s desire for you and i is to mirror that uniqueness. That’s his heart’s desire for us. And again, Paul is talking collectively here. Yes, this applies individually as well, but this is a collective effort. This is a collective command for the entire church in Ephesus. And of course by default for us as a church, he desires for his people to mirror who he is in his nature, in his actions, in his attitudes, in his attributes. Being holy is consequently both a privilege and a responsibility, a great responsibility. We are called to live differently, not to earn God’s favor, but because we have already and we are, we belong to him, we are his. And because he has empowered us with his holy Spirit to reflect his nature, his characteristic, his traits within the world, within the society that we live in. So set apart has the idea and implies we have been chosen by God, we belong to God. Now let’s get into the text verses three to five, setting up being set apart demands, godly characteristics. And this is what we see in verses three and four of verse three, four and five. When Paul grounds his exhortation here in the fact that believers are indeed set apart, he’s stating a fact. Obviously he’s doing more than just offering a motivational preface. He’s invoking the very identity shaping reality that makes obedience for us possible. That’s what he’s doing. Paul is highlighting to us what obedience, that obedience is possible because of us being set apart. So if we’re going to be set apart and we’re gonna look more godly, here are some things that we need to avoid. We need to avoid the morality and greed. In verse three, Paul continues with his exhortation to the church in Ephesus to live morally upright as is befitting with the saints. This is the lifestyle that you have been called to. This is how you live as a saint, as a set apart one in Christ you have to look different and you have to avoid certain lifestyle, certain ungodly lifestyle. In other words, as is befitting with the new life that you have acquired in Christ, these things must be avoided, not should, but must be avoided. He starts off by commanding them to eliminate, to avoid, to rid themselves of any kind of sexual immorality. The word that is used here is in the Greek is porn from their lives. And this of course is like what we see and what what he says in First Thessalonians four verse three, the term that is used here in this verse has a history of being translated fornication. And the King James is very predominant using this word. And this is commonly used for the word fornication is predominantly refer referring to sexual relations outside of our premarital sexual relations. What we have here in this world goes beyond that. The word that Paul uses here, and we saw this in Colossians chapter three as well, goes beyond premarital sexual relation. The the Greek encompasses far more than this. So the term should be understood in a broad sense of any kind of sexual activity that is outside of the confines of a marriage and a marriage. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but I, I need to say it man. One man, one woman marriage. Paul knew that this was a great vice in the early church and all, all forms of sexual misconduct was seen as a part of the daily lives of the people. In other words, it was normal. And and and you can imagine the any kind of sexual immorality you can think of in your mind that you’re thinking of. That’s the idea that Paul had in mind here and people in this society saw it as normal. Sounds like Paul was writing to us. Today does, isn’t it? Later in this very chapter, Paul will give instructions to husbands and wives and by application indicates that any sexual activity outside of the one man, one woman relationship that constitutes a marriage is sexual immorality. Another term that Paul uses or used in this verse is impurity avoid impurity. And this word is an old Testament term referring to all kinds of impurities, ritualistic, impurities. Jesus Christ, however, pointed to a deeper issue of corruption. And we’ve seen this verse before, Matthew 1234, that the heart, the heart is where all sorts of impurity comes from. And of course this word is directly again linked with the word sexual immorality, which means that it is not only the actions that we need to avoid but the very thoughts. And that’s why Matthew 1234 is so pivotal, so vital in this aspect. It’s not just the actions, it’s the very thought that we need to avoid. And why is this? Jesus said it’s the thoughts that leads to the action. It’s the thoughts that lead us to sexual immorality. It’s the thought thoughts that lead us to greed and murder and slander and all sorts of other vices that we have to avoid. And Paul says we should avoid greed. I avoid sexual immorality of all kinds, avoid any kind of impurity, avoid greed. And he said these things must not even be named among the the church. And these things must not even be mentioned among the saints and greed here is not just wanting more but an unsatisfiable desire of self-orientation that treats others in an impure and improper manner. And it is striking that Paul places greed alongside sexual immorality because in his mind both are forms of disordered desires and these are way ways of taking rather than ways of giving. When Paul says these practices shouldn’t even be named among the saints, shouldn’t even be named among God’s people. He’s saying that something much more than that should not, it shouldn’t even be talked about. It shouldn’t even be discussed. It shouldn’t be something that comes up in the church of God and is being accused and anyone is being accused of. He’s saying that an outsider who observes the lifestyle of the believers and observes the behaviors of the Christian community should never have an opportunity to name these things any of these vices as a characteristic of any kind of a lifestyle of any believer within the community. And the same goes true with us inside the body of Jesus Christ. So not only are outsiders looking and saying, well I don’t see that, or we’re not seeing this, which is a good thing. It should be that when we look within ourselves, when we are looking among us, is not being named among us. None of the believers in the body seeing any of these sexual immorality or impurity or greed being a part of the lifestyle of the church of God, we’re not being engaged in any kind of these sinful practices. Be intentional about what you allow to shape your desires, whether it’s media, whether it’s your conversation, whether it’s fantasies or ab ambitions. Cultivate practices that are fe that that feed purity within the heart. Scripture, the meditation of the word of God being held accountable by the brothers and sisters in Christ. This is why coming together is so vital and is so pivotal. Gratitude is another one. Build a culture. We need to build a culture where sin isn’t normalized, where sin isn’t joked about, where it’s not overlooked or wing at. We need to build that culture because the culture out there isn’t building it is they’re not building it and we shouldn’t expect them to build such a culture because they’re outside of the body of Christ. They are not the set apart ones, they are not the ones that God shows to live a life that is completely and totally different than the world. So we shouldn’t expect that from them and we shouldn’t be surprised when they normalize these things, when these things are just a daily part of their activities. It shouldn’t surprise us. That’s how they live. And Paul will get to this as we make our way through the text. That’s just who they are. That’s just their lifestyle. Guard our hearts guard, our hearts. Encourage one another towards integrity. That’s what the author of Hebrews talks about in chapter 10. Let us consider to spur each other on to love and good works. Encourage one another towards integrity, generosity, and self-giving love. So avoid any kind of immoral practices, any greed, avoid shameful behaviors and foul languages. First part of verse four reminds us of this no filthiness or foolish talk or vulgar joking which are not fitting but rather give thanks. Paul does not desire to see any kind of indecent behavior such as filthy languages that is named or should be named among the saints. He had already admonished the church. If you can recall back in chapter four verses 25 and 29, to mind their tongue with regards to lying and on wholesome speech. Filthiness here in this verse carries the idea of that which is shameful, disgraceful and debased. This must do more with one’s conduct in general, which of course includes one’s speech. So it’s your conduct in general, but it also includes your speech. Foolish talks means that kind of talk, which is inci, senseless, stupid foolish, A talk which is not suited to instruct a talk which is not suited to edify a talk which is not profitable. A talk that is idle, which is of course again common among the world. And these were common among the society in which these believers in Ephesus were living. The meaning is this, that Christians, the church, the community of Christ should aim to have their conversation sensible, serious and sincere. Paul isn’t policing vocabulary here. Don’t, don’t see this. He’s concerned with speech that corrodes dignity either yours or someone else’s. It’s speech that is empty or foolish in the sense of being morally careless. Paul says avoid coarse jesting or crude vulgar jokes. Interestingly in the classical Greek, this word that Paul uses here for vulgar jokes typically is a positive one. It means to be witty, clever, and banter. So you get the idea that Paul isn’t saying we can’t and and this is some uh, how the world sometimes sees Christianity, we’re boring because we don’t, we’re not even allowed to laugh and give jokes. That’s not what Paul is saying here. He said, watch the kind of jokes you, you are engaging in. Watch the kind of talks that you’re engaging in. Paul is not against laughing and and giving jokes. We we have a sense of humor. Why? Because God created us like this. We we, you read the scriptures, you read especially we’re both testament old and New Testament. And boy you read the New Testament and some of the things that Jesus says sometimes I laugh, I’m like, and I’m sure he is not meaning it for a joke, but the way in which he says it, it’s so funny, we have a God that has a sense of humor. But like anything else that we do in our Christian life, it has to be filtered, it has to be appropriate. So yes, we can laugh, we can give jokes. So don’t think and especially because Paul goes on to say in instead of doing these things, just give thanks. We can be humorous but we need to be careful. So give this word is our can and mainly used in a positive manner. Of course Paul is using here, using it here in a negative sense. So with that cuts, so that’s like the jokes that we say that hits below the belt. You know, sarcastic sar being a bit sarcastic with the intent of hurting. ’cause again, sarcastic being sarcastic isn’t in and of itself always bad, but you’re doing it with the intent to hurt. So this is with that cuts when you’re being mocking, sexualized jokes. Jokes that are belittling one another. So humor that wounds rather than heels. Paul again is an anti, he’s anti that damages the body of Jesus Christ. So what Paul is doing here is calling for a full transformation from the inside out. From our very thoughts to our words and our actions. That is what Paul is calling for. Hearing these few verses, every single aspect of our lives must reflect who we are in Jesus Christ. That’s what Paul is saying. So even when we’re joking, it should reflect who we are in Christ. Everything that we say, everything that we do ought to fit within the confines of our identity in Jesus Christ. That’s what Paul is trying to say here. So we avoid crude joking but we acquire grateful heart. The latter part of verse four, Paul doesn’t say replace dirty jokes with silence, replace foolish talk with seriousness. He said replace destructive speech with gratitude. So in other words, what Paul is saying here, if you don’t have a positive Godly way of presenting jokes or humor, don’t do it. Just be thank. Just give thanks, just give thanks. But why gratitude? Because Thanksgiving recenters the heart. It recenters the heart and the goodness and the graciousness of God. The Thanksgiving softens cynicism, thank thanksgiving undercuts bitterness. It redirects humor away from mockery towards joy builds community rather than tear it down. Thanksgiving should be a characteristics of all of us. Every single believer in the body of Christ. Gratitude to God is not only an appropriate response to what God has done for us by his grace and by his mercies in redeeming us, but it serves as a motivational force for aligning our lives, your lives, my life with the ethical demands that are required of us as believers. Ephesians chapter five verse four cause us to something far deeper than avoiding certain kinds of speech. Paul is inviting us into a way of speaking that reflects the life that we have been saved to and the life that we have been saved from. Our words are meant to be instructions and instruments of grace, shaping the atmosphere around us, strengthening the believers, strengthening the people that are beside us that we see on a weekly basis. Strengthening our lives, aligning our hearts with the goodness and the grace and the mercy of God. So when we let go of speech that wounds, when we let go of speech that belittles, when we let go of speech that is trivial, we make room for something for our better. A life marked by gratitude. Thanksgiving is a merely a polite habit. It is a language of the heart of the redeemed in Christ. It reorients us towards God’s generosity, softens our posture towards others and fill our conversation with light instead of shadows. That’s what Paul is trying to highlight. That’s what he’s trying to drive home here for us. Set apart also means being kingdom championship, meaning we are living our life as people of the kingdom and not people of this world. Verse five to seven for this, you know with certainty that no sexual immoral person or impure, greedy person, which amounts to an idol dollar has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. See that no one deceives you with empty words for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, therefore do not become partakers with them. Paul in verse three, commented on our identity and emphasizes our lives that our lives ought to reflect this identity, which is saints being set apart for God by God to God. Earlier he made a general statement about sexual immorality. And now in verse five he’s more specific. He’s now saying the sexual immoral person, the greedy person, the impure person. And in doing so, Paul is now commenting on the identity just as our identity is being set apart for God. Paul here now is commenting on the identity of those outside of the community of Christ that live this kind of lifestyle. That is who they are in their being. That’s how they live. And by default implying that such a person is without God. He’s mentioned that earlier in the book. This person is outside, is not someone who has been set apart for God. In other words here he’s not referring to the believer who laps in this kind of vice. Not that he’s sanctioning this kind of vice, just so we’re clear on that. But he’s not commenting on the believer who occasionally lapsed. He’s pointing out to the people that this is just who they are. This is how they live. This is the lifestyle they’ve chosen. This is the lifestyle they see as normal. The point of this entire passage is that these evil attitudes and conducts should be rooted out and eliminated from among the body of Jesus Christ. Paul uses a construction that signals settled communal knowledge. Paule, you know this with absolute certainty. This isn’t new, new to you. This isn’t something that you’re hearing for the first time. Paule. You know that someone who is living this kind of lifestyle, the people that you’re seeing out there, what is the result? They are not a part of the kingdom of Christ. They’re not a part of the kingdom of God. So he is not introducing new doctrine or new theology here to the church. He’s just reminding them of something that is foundational, something that they’ve already been taught, something that they know for sure the Christian life is, has moral contours and the community already understands that the Christian life has differences. In other words, this would be not be common knowledge. Paul equates ness here. And as you already saw and have seen with idolatry, Paul said the greedy person is an idolater. Why is this? Why is this? And he’s specifically identifying the greedy person. It’s not the sexual immoral person or the impure person. He said the greedy person. That’s where the noun, that’s where the noun is pointing to that person is an idolater. Because whatever captures the heart’s deepest desires becomes its functional God, Jesus Christ as a proof reference to this Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter six, verse 24 said, you cannot serve two masters. You can’t serve two masters. Why You will be devoted to one and despise the other. And he said, you can’t serve God and money. It’s one or the other. There’s no in-between. There’s no in-between. He also talks about where your treasure is there, your heart will be. And greed is a thing that drives and motivate people towards all sorts of vices. But greed is also the the thing that drives and motivates people towards idolatry. And that is why Paul equates it with idolatry. One Jewish writer says this, my children love money that leads to idolatry because once they are led astray by money, they designate, they designate, they’re designated as gods. Those who are not Gods. Philo of Alexandra Alexandria, Egypt said this, money lovers who would procure gold and silver coins from every side and treasure like hoard and treasure their hoard like a divine image in a sanctuary, believing it to be the source of their blessings, their source of their happiness of all kinds. So again, equating the love of money, the the motivation to go towards money as something that people worship. And the noun that is used here, that Paul uses here for idolatry is a combination of two words, which means service and idol. Meaning you’re serving idols. Greed is like serving idols. And we have to guard our hearts against that. Paul isn’t trying to terrify the believers in the church. He’s warning those who would be very complacent. ’cause there’s always complacency in the church and we all all have the tendency to be complacent. So he’s not trying to scare them to death, he’s warning them that you need to be on guard, you need to be careful. He’s saying that the kingdom has a shape, the kingdom has a certain pattern and those who belong to we who belong to the kingdom of Christ are being reshaped into the pattern of the kingdom of Jesus, Christ of God, not the kingdom of this world. A life that is persistently rejecting this kind of pattern, a life that is resisting and rejecting the pattern that we see from God. Something is deeper, am missing in that life is what Paul is saying. It’s both this passage, these passages, these verses are both diagnostic and an invitation. It’s a diagnosis for us as believers that we need to watch our hearts, how we live, the things that we gravitate to, the things that we let take the place of Jesus Christ in our hearts. The degree that we that drives and pushes us towards these things and pushes Jesus Christ out of our lives for that very moment. Not that he’s ever going to leave us or forsake us, but we have let these things take preeminence in our lives than Jesus Christ. And he’s saying to us, be on guard. But it’s an invitation for those who are in the world, this lifestyle. You don’t have to continue in this lifestyle. You don’t have to continue living in the lost and in greed and with impurity and with sexual immorality. Jesus Christ has provided a new way, a new life for you. And we as a church need to remember that this is the mantra that we have to be preaching to the world out there. And it’s a mantra that we need to be reminding ourselves of on a daily basis basis. Paul wants them. Paul wants the believers in Ephesus to be assured that they are indeed heirs. So that’s implied in this text. The sexual immoral person who is greedy and who is by default and idolatry, they have no part in the kingdom of God. They have no part in the kingdom of Christ. But you do, you do. You are an inheritant, you are an inheritor. You have inherit, you are heirs of that eternal kingdom. And because of that you should, we should now live like kingdom people and serve the living and true merciful God with a grateful, compassionate, faithful heart, live like kingdom. People live like those who are citizens of heaven. That’s a huge problem in the church today. We live like this is it? We live like, no. This is our inheritance, this earth and the things of this earth. This is what Jesus Christ as laid out for us and we’re gonna possess and we are holding onto it for dear life. Not knowing that greater things are head, we know it. But because of the things of this world overshadow us so much, we forget that greater things are to come. Paul says, I as have not seen our ears, heard the things that God has prepared for his people. In Romans eight. He says, even the creation is groaning for that day. When Jesus Christ returns for his church, for his children, for his people, the creation knows that something greater and better is coming. But yet here we are thinking that this is the best of the best. That’s the problem with our churches today. That’s the problem. We’re forgetting that we have an eternal kingdom. That we are, we have, I inherit inherited through Jesus Christ. So we have to live within that confines by saying that the kingdom of God, Paul saying the kingdom of God and kingdom of Christ. And of course this is expressing both a present reality and a future reality as well. A future aspect of the kingdom, which is a second coming of Christ. So even in a subtle way, Paul is reminding the church that Jesus Christ is gonna come and rule and reign. We have seen the inauguration of the kingdom, but there comes a day when it’s gonna be fully expressed in it’s all, in all its glory when Christ comes and that’s when we’ll receive our full inheritance with a shepherd’s heart’s heart. Paul urges the believers, he’s urging the church in Ephesus to stay alert to those who would excuse these harmful immoral lifestyle. Whether it’s sexual misconduct, coarse or demeaning speech or a way of living that is shaped and propelled by greed. His aim is to protect the flock from anything that dulls or that would dull their holiness and draws them, draws their attention, draws their lifestyle away from Jesus Christ and from the life that Jesus Christ has called them to, that Jesus Christ has the life that Jesus Christ has set them apart. Apart too. Paul expressed his concern that influential teachers may and I would include or interject we have them in, in droves, is implying here that influential teachers will arise within the church that will mislead the believers. And he insists that the believers are not carried away with earlier we sour. He said, don’t be tossed by every wind of doctrine. Paul’s action clearly is this. Don’t let these individuals sway you. His phrase here, let no one deceive you with empty words. Echoes his warning to the believers in Colossae where he similarly cautions them against destructive teaching that were already infiltrating the community of Jesus Christ. In Colossians two, verse eight, and of course earlier in this letter, he tells us, don’t get tossed. Don’t be vulnerable to every wind of doctrine. We are always to be on guard for those people coming into our churches, coming into this church. We are, we ought always to be on guard, to be ready to safeguard this local assembly. It is our responsibility, first mine as the pastor, the leaders, and by extension all of us, it is our responsibility to safeguard this local assembly. We can’t do it for the other churches because we’re not a part of those churches. We’re part of the universal church where we are identified with this local assembly and unlike what we’re seeing out there in our society in the Western hemisphere where people claim to be running away from a certain lifestyle and running to the west to have a different lifestyle, but demanding that very lifestyle that they’re running from to be implemented into this society in which they’re coming to for refuge and a government, a foolish government that is giving them their heart’s desire. Unlike that this church, we as a body of believers, will not accommodate people who are running away from certain things in another church and coming here and saying, I want this to be implemented here or else I am not coming here. Well, here is a simple solution to that. There’s the door. There’s the door. We will stand firm on the word of God. We will stand firm on what we believe and preach and practice in this local assembly. And by the grace and the mercy and the enablement of God through his Holy Spirit, we will not let anyone, no matter how powerful, no matter how dignitary you are, come here and tell us how to run and operate our local assembly. That won’t happen. We are not going to qualify for that. Yes, here it is our way or the highway thou, those are your options. Yes, we accept people and we want people to be a part of this local assembly. We want people to come to Jesus Christ. We want to disciple people, but you are not gonna come here and demand that we change the way we do things to suit your religiosity, to suit your ideologies no matter what kind of a justification you want to use. Or that’s old school. That’s not how it used to be. What century are you living in, et cetera. It won’t happen. Paul said, we have to be on guard for these people. They will come. And again, as I said, they’re in droves. Praise God. They’re not here, but they’re in droves. But we have to be on guard for them and we have to stand our ground. When we encounter these people, Paul says, because of these things, not necessarily the empty words, but because of the vice that elicit the greed, the impurity, the sexual immorality and so on, he said, because of these things, the wrath of God, the wrath of God will is on the children of disobedience. In one aspect, the wrath of God is already being seen in our society. We saw that in Romans chapter one, where it said The wrath of God is on these people who have given up the image of God and serving the creatures rather than the creator. So God gave them up and that is seen as God’s wrath. Of course they don’t see it as that, but there’s a greater day coming where the full extent of the wrath of God is gonna be unleashed on these people, on these individuals who continue to live in these, this kind of lifestyle. The sons of disobedience, as Paul describes them here and also does, uses the same term in chapter two. If you remember, the wrath of God is coming. The final manifestation of this wrath will indeed come on the children of disobedience. This designation does not describe, obviously doesn’t describe us, it doesn’t describe the believers, doesn’t describe those who are within this community, but the unredeemed, verse six for us is the wake up call. It’s for us, it’s a wake up call for the world. It’s a stern, stern warning. It’s a stern warning. The latter part of verse six, the warning is real, but it’s not the entirety of the story. It’s meant to be an anchor for us as believers in truth, we see we can live freely, joyfully, without compromising our faith, without compromising who we are as a body. What Paul is not saying, we go to verse seven. So Paul says, don’t let anyone deceive you. Be on guard for those who are intentionally coming into your church to deceive you with empty words, with flattery words. And again, we have so many of those out there and because of the, the, the practices, the lifestyle of the, the sexual immoral person, the greedy person, the foolish person, God’s wrath is coming on them that final day of judgment. So he says, therefore, do not become partakers with them. I want to highlight first and foremost what Paul is not saying in verse seven. He’s not telling the believers to withdraw from the world or avoid these kind of people. It wouldn’t make any sense. How would we witness to them if we’re going to isolate ourselves from the world? Paul never advocates isolation. In fact, he assumes Christian will live right in the middle of this ordinary society and that’s how we’re gonna let our light shine in these ordinary society so that we that so that they will see an extraordinary lifestyle. What Paul is saying here is not about alignment, it’s a, it’s about alignment rather not proximity. Don’t align yourselves with them. Don’t live like they live. Don’t practice the things they practice. Don’t call the things that they call normal, normal, don’t do the same things that they do. Live differently. Paul is concerned is with what shapes us as a church. He, he’s concerned with what is normalized for us as a church. It is he’s concerned with what you and I are silently affirming when we are joining into these things. That’s what his concern is with here. He’s concerned with us being in the same category as these people out there. These sexually imal person, these impure greedy people, these vulgar talking people. Paul is urging the church to resist being swept into a pattern or into these pattern of life that contradicts the new identity that we have in Christ Jesus. That’s his concern. Furthermore, if you can recall all the way back to chapter three, verse six, Paul reminds us and the church in Ephesus that our new life in Christ sees us as partakers of the promises of Christ Jesus. That it being a part of the one body, so in subtle form policy, and we can’t be partakers with these individuals because we’re already partakers of something far greater. We’re partakers of the promises of Jesus Christ. We’re partakers of those who are in the body of Jesus Christ, that one body and we are drawing from that one body, the people that got has placed within us and gifted and used to edify and build each other up. Those are the people that we are partaking of. And he said, you can’t double dip. You can’t have both. You can’t be doing both. We’re already partakers of the divine kingdom of God. We’re partakers of those who are within the community of Jesus Christ, that folks is living the set apart life. We’re called, we’re chosen by God, we belong to God. And as a result of belonging to God, our lives then should reflect who we are in Christ. The new life that he’s called us to live. Our lives should reflect the characteristic of the God who saves us, who calls us to himself, who redeemed us, who sanctify, and he’s continuing to sanctify us. That’s who we should be reflecting within this society, within this community, and within the world that we live. We ought to be reflecting Jesus Christ. We ought to be reflecting the new life that we now have in Christ. We are people who represent the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of this world. And as such, we live and represent the kingdom where we’re from. And it’s not of this world. We represent the kingdom of heaven. We live like citizens of heaven. We act like citizens of heaven. We we’re representing heaven on earth. And we have to remember that we are called to live a life that is wholly totally different in every aspect, thought, actions, and words and by God’s grace and enablement. And that’s why Paul wedged that I believe in the middle of this book, that God, the Holy Spirit is the one that’s gonna enable us to live this life on. It makes sense because there’s absolutely no way we can do it on our own. There’s no way we can do it in our own strength and in our own mind. It’s only through the power of the Holy Spirit of God that we’re going to be able to live this life that God has called us to live. Father, we are so grateful and thankful for this reminder, these hard truths, but truth that are so desperately needed to be heated and heard in our lives, in our church, and in our society. God, may you give us the grace to live a kingdom life. May you give us the, the, the enablement you have given us, the enablement. May you work within us, Lord, through your spirit, through us constantly again going in daily into your word, through us gathering on a daily, on a weekly basis, multiple times a week, that we will draw encouragement and examples from believers, from Jesus Christ to live this life that you’ve called us to live. May we be faithful, Lord, to live this set apart life. God, may we be mindful of those that will want to creep in our church, unaware to try and deceive us to try and toss all sorts of wind and doctrine to us. May we stand firm on our beliefs. May we stand our ground and stand on the scripture, stand on the Word of God without any remorse, without any compromise. God, give us the grace as we continue throughout this day. Continue throughout this another week, Lord, where the challenges will come, where the temptations and the testings will come. But may we draw from the power source that you’ve given to us, your Holy Spirit. And through him, Lord, we can and will live the victorious life for Christ’s sake. Amen.