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19-01-25 -LIVING BY GOD’S STANDARD Ephesians 5:1-14MESSAGE BY PASTOR ROB INRIG FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC

Writer's picture: Lou HernándezLou Hernández

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I invite you to pray with me, Father God hear our prayer, and we humbly cry to you as it is written in your word, Lucas 11:9:” I tell you Keep asking, and it will given to you, Keep seeking,  and you will find, Keep knocking, and it will be open to you)”  We are requesting healing for our dear members of our family and also dear friends who are suffering from illnesses in their lives fighting and suffering under a lot of pain, You know them by their names; (Gaby P, Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G, Fega G,  Rosy Ch, Patricia L.)  Also, some of them are tired of spiritual struggles, losing their faith in you, Strengthening their trust in you with a miracle in their lives, oh! Father God, hear our prayer, and we also pray for all the people around the world, especially the children who are suffering from wars, devastation, hunger, pain, hate and disbelieving in you also, bless the ones who are reading this message and their families.  Heal the Land of those Countries at war; you love them so much, oh Father God, hear our prayer, we ask you in the name of Our Lord of Lords and King of Kings, your beloved son Jesus Christ. AMEN!

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God the Father, we thank you for your answer to our prayers with 

The good news, with the recovery of health for some

Strengthen them so that they may regain their faith in you

And that they may be witnesses that you love them and 

that you respond when we trust and believe in you

Thank you Father God in the name

of Jesus our Lord of Lords and King of Kings

Praise be to your name

always and forever, AMEN.

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Last Thursday I read a review of a new television series just released, Brutal Western makes Game of Thrones look tame.  The reviewer begins her commentary saying, Hell, apparently, is Utah in 1857.  At least that's the way it looks in "American Primeval," Netflix's new Western, for which "brutal" isn't a strong enough adjective. It's savage and primal and bloody and cold and ruthless. It is all the worst parts of life − greed, tribalism, wanton violence, sexual depravity, deception, racism and ambition − mixed up in a soup of despair....  Rape, incest, dead children, scalping − there is no act of violence the show is shy of showing on camera. 


You can click: in the American Primeval Netflix up, and you can watch a

short video and check what is this movie about.


Rarely are we given secular commentary that so accurately depicts these as ‘the worst parts of life’.  By the reporter’s observations, things many will be repulsed. However,, however these same evils likely attracting as many or more as will be repulsed.  The ‘worst’ its producers would probably defend as just entertainment. After all, why not? - aren’t we the liberated generation, the enlightened generation, the do what you want, with whomever you want, whenever you want generation.  Besides why not be part of its audience, we’re just watching, not doing.  In so many respects, a generation, not much different than Jesus spoke of, As in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of man be Matt 24:37.  Now to be clear, this capture of our generation, isn’t a look down on those younger, it’s a open-eyed look at all of us, who we currently are, what we currently accept, what we’ve currently become.


It's against a backdrop like this, God’s call - get rid of the unwholesome – everything that is rotten.  Instead we as followers of Jesus are called to be yielded to Him, different from what surrounds, different from what infects.  Does that mean we always get it right, that we do this well? nope, but it does speak to a heart that desires to live in ways that please Christ.  

   

Speaking of our heart, Paul in chapter 4 helps us better see it for what it is. Now in chapter 5 he takes a further look but not before first reminding us that in Jesus, We are dearly loved children of God :1,2 who are called to walk in love.     


Secured in that, Paul now addresses issues that get us all messed up.  In :3 he zeroes in on sexual immorality and impurity because the culture in which he writes is obsessed with everything sex.  And to that, Paul’s is saying - don’t cheapen the treasure you’ve been given, don’t destroy what’s meant to give so much, don’t mess up what you have.  


Paul writing to us in a culture where the internet, cable and Kama Sutra manuals have become our instructors about love, sex and relationships - substituting real love, real fulfillment for Satan’s deception of what he promotes as, ‘be free, anything goes’ liberation.  Instead of God’s truth, running after the counterfeit.  The evidence all around us, surveys like Proven Men’s which found that 2/3 64% of U.S. men view pornography at least monthly. Another survey where 1/3 of young Christian men are addicted to porn and 1/3 of married Christian men will have an affair!  More recent studies indicate these numbers are likely low.  These studies also making clear, this is not a ‘men only’ concern. 


Paul speaking into our culture where Christians either ignore or distort what God says about sex at the cost of broken hearts and shattered lives.  And looking on - broken children, broken marriages and broken  homes.  All too often, with the church remaining silent regarding God’s celebration of sex.  Sadly, Sunday morning might be the only time we don’t learn about sex. 


It’s impossible to come into today’s Scripture without first being very clear about some things God does say about sex.  To avoid doing so and simply using Eph 5 as our beginning plays into beliefs that Christians are inhibited people whose view of sex is, Prohibit, stay away.  Where our understanding is defined more by avoidance rather than embrace like the 12th-century theologian, who said, “The Holy Spirit leaves the room when a married couple has sex, even if they do it without passion”.  Far be it, that passion and sex could ever mix???


Obviously, we’ve come considerable distance since then, where now as John Piper observes, “It’s risky to talk about the goodness of sex these days, because ours is an age of sexual hyperbole. Never before in history has the goddess of sex offered so much with so little to give.”


THAT BEGS THE QUESTION - WHAT DOES THE BIBLE TEACH ABOUT SEX?


First that it was very good.  God saw all that He had made and it was very good.  Gen 1:31

 

The creation of light was good, the creation of animals was good, however, when God created man and woman, naked and unashamed, it was very good When God declared the two shall become one flesh, it was very good. But His design of 2 becoming 1 was to be enjoyed only within a covenantal relationship of marriage. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.… Gen 2:24, 25. Jesus affirmed this very good view of sex and sexual celebration within the safeguard of covenant - God’s design of marriage.  


The point is - sex was God’s idea!  He invented it and He holds the patent on the act. He drew up the blueprints how our bodies were to respond - the intensity of the drive and the pleasure of the act - built in features for husband and wife’s sexual joy. His purpose. His design. His creation for men and women to respond as they do – not to use and exploit – but to celebrate and grow in intimacy.  In safety and trust. His purpose. His design. His very good And here’s the thing, he didn’t begin it, thinking that someday His design that He reserved for a husband and wife, would be improved on by those more knowledgeable, more liberated, more adventurous.

The sexual joining of 2 becoming 1 – physically, yes but also, relationally, emotionally, spiritually.  Wants and needs not centered on “I” but “we”. 1 Cor 7:1-9 makes it clear, a me-centered sexual life damages relationship, leaving us susceptible to Satan’s attacks.  Several places in Scripture are explicitly sexual, like, Prov 5:15,18-19:  Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well … May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer - may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love. We may not get the imagery but there is no doubt, God is clear, sexual love – freely expressed, freely enjoyed; within marriage is God’s purpose and blessing.  


Or take Song of Solomon.  Though some commentators spiritualize this as a metaphor of Christ’s love for His church, it is also unmistakably a description of uninhibited sexual love.  That’s obvious even in the 1st few words - 1:2 “Kiss me again and again, for your love is sweeter than wine,” the Hebrew literally something like ‘smother me with kisses.’  This has to be one of the most memorable opening lines in the Bible!  The ‘love’ referred to has strong, physically erotic connotations, as in the caresses of lovemaking leaving her feeling euphoric.


Or 1:9 NIV: I liken you, my darling, to a mare harnessed to one of the chariots of Pharaoh.

When his beloved doesn’t own her physical beauty, he disagrees, saying she’s like a mare in Pharaoh’s cavalry. Understand, there were no mares in Pharaoh’s cavalry, because a mare would excite the males into sexual excitement chaos!  So contrary to her belief she is unattractive, he  is saying, Are you kidding? your attractiveness is like a mare released in a corral of stallions.


Or - How beautiful are your sandaled feet, O queenly maiden. Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a skilled craftsman. Your navel is as delicious as a goblet filled with wine. Your belly is lovely, like a heap of wheat set about with lilies. Your breasts are like twin fawns of a gazelle. Your neck is as stately as an ivory tower. Your eyes are like the sparkling pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is as fine as the tower of Lebanon overlooking Damascus (I’m not sure this is something you as a husband should use with your wife). Your head is as majestic as Mount Carmel, and the sheen of your hair radiates royalty. A king is held captive in your queenly tresses. Oh, how  delightful you are, my beloved; how pleasant for utter delight! You are tall and slim like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters of dates. I said, ‘I will climb up into the palm tree and take hold of its branches.’ Now may your breasts be like grape clusters, and the scent of your breath like apples. May your kisses be as exciting as the best wine, smooth and sweet, flowing gently over lips and teeth”  SoS 7:1-9.


Traditionally, Song of Songs was one of the five books the Jewish people read during holy days and religious festivals. Pardon me – the Holy Days? but to the Jews, the connect was natural. God worshipped for His gifts and among those, His great gift of sex.


That’s a huge stretch how most outside the church consider how Christians think about sex.  In truth, it’s a stretch for how many within the church think – their experience only warnings and prohibitions.  Not unlike warnings about fire that only warn of how it will destroy without the larger truth that fires used as intended, bring heat, bring light, bring joy, bring purity.  Does it have the potential to devastate? – of course when it’s left unguarded and carelessly set loose.  


Which brings us back to Ephesians.  When God gave the NT, he knew that those living in Ephesus were in a culture that promoted adultery, premarital sex, sex with children, orgies, and temple prostitution.  Sex was, do what you want, when you want, with whomever you want. In the same way, God knew the idol of sex would be placed center stage in what the 21stC would be streaming, what sexologists would be ‘prescribing, what the entertainment industry would be showing. He knew what would be scrawled on bathroom walls and practiced without restraint.    

Knowing this, God’s Word speaks often about sex because His people needed to learn from its Designer. And yet, what’s sad is that we pay far more attention to what the sexual Deceiver says than to what God Designer says.  And in that deceit we are told God keeps the best from us; denying us pleasure, denying us excitement.  Denying the Designer’s best.


But what we fail to ask is this, Why would He do that?  Why would He create the very good, with everything He’s built into that design and then say, don’t go near, don’t enjoy?  And the point is He doesn’t say, don’t enjoy, He says, ‘don’t destroy’.  He doesn’t say, don’t ‘use’, He says, ‘don’t misuse’.  He doesn’t say, don’t celebrate, He says, ‘don’t depreciate’.  Instead use according to the Maker’s instructions.  But we consider ourselves better informed, more free, more liberated and in that delusion we settle for the tawdry, where couples sin and spouses cheat.  Where porn deceives and where people tear open what’s meant to be a wedding night gift.  After all, why not when it’s what everyone does or at our age, waiting is just so unrealistic.  


God’s gift de-valued and discarded; misused and abused.  People in pain because of the Deceiver’s lie.  Where people run from relationship to relationship; where value is determined by what’s in it for me; where children grow up in a world where fathers are never known.   


That is why He comes to the Ephesians and says, :3  Don’t let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you.”  Immorality porneia - all sexual behaviour outside of marriage - the images on view.  The porn sites visited.  The opportunity you’re about to step into. The affair stepped into The same sex relationship.  The alternate lifestyle engaged.  


And God’s warning - get rid of it - act swiftly, act boldly, act decisively.  Don’t treat it lightly.  Don’t even name it among you.  Tough in a world where sex is everywhere, depicted in one form or another, in the sale of cars, the cell phone provider to choose, the entertainment watched, the songs that entertain. Our response? not to retreat into monastic retreat but to be aware of the dangers, covenanting with God, enabled in ongoing communication with Him to live differently.  


Impurity refers to something that’s filthy inside and out, to the infection surrounding a wound or a decaying body. That’s an apt description of what happens to a society that gives itself over to immorality, as the Greeks and Romans had done.  This word speaks more to the condition that sets in when untreated, its surround poisoning then spreading. 


Like what the Christians in Ephesus were surrounded by.  The Temple of Artemis dominated the city center.  Sexual indulgence was the norm.  Their society like a rotting corpse not unlike ours where impurity fills our minds with values and images contrary to God’s design.  Pictures come.  Ideas bombard.  Thoughts tempt.  Into that world the gospel of Jesus Christ came and with it, liberation from bondage, the forgiveness of sins, and the impartation of new life.  


Greed – at 1st glance greed seems a strange inclusion with immorality and impurity but greed is actually the fuel for much of the immorality we fall prey to.  It’s commitment is to what’s in it for me.  It exploits and it steals, elevating my interests over others.  Its pre-occupation is to fill my life’s bank account at the expense of others.  And as :5 states, greed is idolatry that pushes God out of our lives. 


I am very aware that as I speak, some listening have been victimized by others’ sexual greed; others knowing they’ve been the perpetrators of that greed.  Some right now, being used, some using.  In your view hiding but not from God.  And believe it or not, that’s actually good news.   


God knowing our greed and wanting that to end. God wanting to come in to our selfish places, our broken places, our shame places, in order to heal. That’s why He died, to forgive all who come to Him and repent.  And to those who repent, He pours out His grace - forgiving our ‘unforgivables’, putting an end to our shame. This is the great news about Jesus – as Romans 8:1 reminds, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  His forgiveness didn’t stop when we became a Christian, His loving forgiveness is what He continually wants us to know and come into. 

  

That’s what the Cross IS about, Jesus inviting us to be made new, to take hold of His power to live in a new way, not controlled by what we used to do but controlled by Him.  


Still struggling with pornography?  Good news – God knows and is just waiting to forgive and give you the power to live in a different way.  Still in a relationship you know to be sin – good news - God knows and is waiting to forgive.  Does that mean, He will look the other way and let you continue to live as you have?  Nope. He loves us too much for that.  But His promise? IF we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 Jn 1:9.  That verse telling us, He doesn’t just forgive, He cleanses – makes new, makes different, makes clean.  Which is to say when shame shouts loud, when you fail again, when accusations come, God’s word, I will remember your sins and iniquities no more Heb 8:12. So why are you listening to what He has forgotten?


:4  Let there be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting  


Paul calling us to live in light of who we are - to stop deceiving ourselves with deceitful words and stop defeating ourselves with deceitful actions.  To see our filthiness –  for what it is and from whom it comes.  And instead start living in accordance with the new.  Because with unguarded speech, defenses are lowered and ideas are entertained that have no place in us.  Get rid of words that devalue and actions that bring pain.  Put an end to speech that is out of bounds for God’s people.  Do away with the coarse joking - the ‘off colour’ story, the sexual joke, the double entendre speech.  But some of this seems so clever.   Even Aristotle called double entendre, a clever, well-turned phrase.  


Let’s not confuse things.  Humor is a great gift from God.  How boring life would be without it, BUT, if you have a gift for telling jokes and funny stories, this warning is for you. If you are the master of the quick retort, the funny quip, the amusing reply, the flippant comment . . . this is for you!  Light speech can quickly become loose speech, which quickly turns into low speech.


So Paul’s take?   Don’t blemish.  Don’t devalue.  Don’t dirty.  Rather give thanks and speak language that elevates – where others are blessed.  


Paul concludes with a warning about how incompatible God’s kingdom is with Satan’s kingdom.  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.  :5 


The immoral, the impure, the greedy having no place in the kingdom of God.  This isn’t saying that someone who’s committed an inmoral  act won’t enter heaven; it’s saying that someone whose heart still belongs to another kingdom won’t enter heaven – a heart that hasn’t been changed, a heart that hasn’t repented, a heart that still lives under the old master.  To these – there’s no place in the kingdom of God.  Those with an unredeemed heart don’t belong there, wouldn’t fit there, wouldn’t be happy there.  And the message to followers of Jesus? don’t live as if your residence is unchanged.  Live as a new Kingdom child.  


Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient” :6.   Verses like these make people uncomfortable. God seems so judgmental.  Even some Christians squirm when they read a verse like this. ‘How will we ever reach the lost, if we talk this way? People have to know we love them.’  The question is, do we love them enough to tell them the truth?  That while it’s true God is love, there is such a thing as the wrath of God. There is a place called hell where people who reject Jesus Christ will spend eternity. 


To be clear, other places in Scripture make it clear, there is only one sin that will keep us away from heaven. That sin is not a sexual affair, it’s not an act of violence, or advantage taken of a friend. The sin that keeps us from heaven is rejecting Jesus Christ as the only answer for our sin, the only way sinful people can be made right with God. If we are trusting on anything other than the blood of Christ to make us right with God, God says we will be lost for all eternity. 


So as I conclude, Paul’s purpose is twofold – 1st if you’re a Christian, live in a way that pleases God.  Get rid of everything in our lives that we hang onto knowing that it displeases Christ.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, follow Him, imitate Him. Know His love for you and believe.  

  

2nd if you are bowing to other gods, habitually chasing sin, you need to take a closer look at where you are. You may have walked an aisle after a preacher spoke. You may have said some words after someone walked you through the 4 spiritual laws, you may have had some emotional camp experience but have you truly come to the Cross, repenting of your sin and accepting His forgiveness?  Have you turned from your sin to follow Jesus?


If you haven’t, this morning everything can change. His invitation to you is come to Him and believe.  His Word is Truth.  His Promises are True.  His Love is Unfailing.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life though Jesus Christ our Lord.


The gift of God that changed Nicky Cruz’s ( de fundación Cristiana) life, his father a Satanic priest; his mother, a practicing witch.  As a young boy he tells how many times his mother viciously beat him, blackening his eyes, breaking his nose, his chin, his ribs.


On several occasions he was locked in a dark room for 2 or 3 days without food and water.  A mother who would tell him, she cursed the day he was born, that he was never loved and his name was the son of Satan.  It’s no surprise Nicky emerged from this world filled with hate – a hate which later played out on the streets as the warlord, then leader of NY’s most vicious street gangs who would battle other gangs and police – with knives, guns, chains, baseball bats – as they beat, mugged, killed, whoever got in their way.  In his words, he was a vicious animal in a vicious world, who, without conscience, would do whatever was needed, to rule in his jungle.  But his rule would be turned upside down by words spoken by a skinny, out of his environment, country preacher, David Wilkerson, Nicky, Jesus loves you.  In one encounter Wilkerson told him, You could cut me into a 1000 pieces and throw me into the street but each of those pieces would still tell you, Jesus loves you.  Nicky would later say that when he, the last person anyone thought would come to Christ, became converted, it was as if Jesus took out his heart, removed all his pain and then planted it back in again and Nicky became brand new.  Nicky, who in the years to come would tell over 40M people the words he heard that changed his life, Nicky, Jesus loves you and that if Jesus could change Nicky Cruz, he can change you. 

NICKY CRUZ

New International Version (NIV)

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;

I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my Spirit in you and move you

to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 

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And those words spoken to Nicky, are the same words Jesus speaks to you -

His invitation – come to Him be made new,

come to Him to be set free. 

Come to Him and believe.   






Let's worship our Lord God, Jesus Christ

our Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

AMÉN!

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