Text: Ephesians chapter 5:1-21

Paul’s assault on Cultural Christianity…

There is probably no other single chapter in the bible that speaks so directly to the problem with Christianity today. Apparently, the modern American church wasn’t the first church to struggle with rampant worldliness and mediocre Christianity.
The interesting thing about this text is that our whole problem in the church as I am sure the problem with the Ephesian church in Paul’s day can be summed up and solved with the first four words of this chapter, “Be imitators of God,” If you think about it, don’t we do everything but that? We imitate actors, and rock stars. We imitate what we see done in movies. We imitate what we see in video games. We are a culture of imitators. I can prove it.
The other day I was in Home Depot shopping around for work stuff. Suddenly a loud alarm went off somewhere in store. It sounded urgent and was blaring loudly. The moment it went off, everyone in the store including myself stopped and looked around at everyone else. When we all concluded that no one else was panicking, we just went back to shopping despite the loud blaring alarm. Similarly, the other day a friend of mine e-mailed a short video clip of police in some other country on the street inspecting what they thought was a bomb. The street was crowded with people and when the people were informed that it could be a bomb, everyone backed away and kept their distance watching nervously. As the policemen slowly approached the suspicious package and began to inspect it closely, you could see that the crowd that had gathered also kind of eased up and began talking, letting their guard down. I am sure they assumed that nothing was wrong because the police were handling the situation so casually. They poked at the package and stood around it talking for quite a while. In both situations I made the stunning observation that people will base their response to a threatening situation primarily on the responses from people around them regardless of the other facts of the situation. I was somewhat amazed by this revelation that I had never really thought about before as I was watching this video clip. Inevitably, the package, which turned out to actually be a bomb, exploded and killed one of the officers and wounded all the others standing nearby. You could hear the screams of terror from the crowd as people scattered, literally running around in all directions in a total panic. The video shocked me and kind of made me kind of sick but it drove home a strong reality that I will not soon forget.
We, as humans are imitators by nature. It is a fundamental part of our nature. You can see it more easily in an infant. To believe otherwise is to believe a lie and most of us do believe that lie. One of the biggest deceptions the enemy has duped people with, is the false sense of individuality that comes from rebellion against God. I remember when I was in high school. I so badly wanted to be regarded as an individual. I was frantically searching for identity. I was in the punk rock music scene and would dress in torn jeans and a leather jacket. I had my ears pierced and used to wear a lot of jewelry. I thought I was expressing my uniqueness, celebrating my individuality, never considering the fact that I hung around with a bunch of other kids who dressed just like me, looked just like me and acted just like me. We would go to parties and concerts and find even more people that looked just like us so we could be accepted.
The simple fact of the matter is, since God himself created us to be unique, it is only in Him that we can find our uniqueness and sense of individuality. As we imitate God in whose image we are created, we will fulfill our ultimate potential. Wouldn’t it make sense that the best use for something is the use that it was originally created to fulfill? We were created to imitate Christ. III John 1:11 says "Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God."
In the following verses of this chapter, Paul gives warnings about all the things the world will throw our way to coerce us into imitating it. Verse 3 warns of avoiding sexual immorality. In our sex obsessed American culture this could be Satan’s most effective area that he has convinced believers to imitate the world. He also warns against greed. I can think of no other place where we comfortably express our greed than on the freeways of Los Angeles. We are greedy for our little piece of the road, we are greedy for our travel time and if someone, through ignorance or with ill intent, takes even a second or two from us, we become enraged.
In verse 4, Paul talks about the way we talk. Foolish talk is rampant in our churches. Thanks to sitcoms like Seinfeld, it has become an art form to entertain long conversations about absolutely nothing for the sake of entertainment. We watch it, we laugh at it, we imitate it. To deny that fact is to be deceived.
Verse 5 reminds us of something I think we need to give more attention to. People who live worldly lifestyles and who embrace these worldly behaviors, have no inheritance in the kingdom of God. There are so many things in this chapter we could discuss, my hope is that you go through it like I have and highlight and underline the parts that really speak to you and refer back to it agai nand again.
I want to finish with just two more of the clear warnings Pau lgives us in this text. In verse 6 Paul says, “Let no one deceive you with empty words.” I think we hear that and only apply it to going to a church that teaches false doctrine and getting sucked into false religion. When you watch one of those T.V. shows that clearly violates God’s command about foolish talk in Ephesians and you laugh and tune in again next week, that is exactly what you are doing. You are being deceived with empty words. You might say, I know its nonsense I just watch it for a laugh. When you watch it and laugh at it, you are worshipping it, plain and simple. The only way you can express compliance with God’s command is to repent from it and renounce it and to never watch it again.
In Verse 15 Paul warns us to be very careful how we live. We must remember that we are in a war and that our enemy the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We must not be ignorant of that constant reality.
The last thing I want to point out is in verse 18 where it says, ‘Do not be drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery, instead be filled with the spirit.” It’s important to understand the real point of all this. I think we tend to get turned off by all the don’ts in the bible. It almost seems like God doesn’t want us to have any fun. Don’t do this and don’t do that. We must understand what God’s purpose is. He wants us to be filled with the Spirit. He wants to have communion with us by the indwelling of His Spirit in our inner man. He wants to bless us and fill us and give us joy and satisfaction that none of these worldly pursuits can offer. Colossians 2:20 reminds us that it isn’t about rules. It is a matter of enjoying God’s presence, enjoying the freedom that comes from submission to Him and living a life of constant pursuit of purity. All these worldly behaviors in Ephesians 4 just draw us away from God and give the enemy footholds of compromise in our lives. God wants us to be close to Him. Psalms 24:3 says, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.”
I want to do what I was born to do. I want to be the best imitator of God that I can possibly be. Let’s put off the things of the world. It may seem like some extreme self deprivation, like something some radical religious group would preach. But it’s not. It’s God’s word. It’s Christianity 101. It’s what He wants for all believers, deeper intimacy with Him. We as a church have just drifted very far from it.

How to pray this scripture:

Dear Lord Jesus, I want to be an imitator of God. I want to be like you. I want to do what I was born to do. I want to fulfill what you have for me. Lord, give me strength to pursue you with all of my heart and to forsake the idols of this culture. Give me strength and wisdom to avoid sexual immorality, any kind of impurity, greed, obscenity, foolish talk, coarse joking. If I have fallen in any of these areas I repent and confess my sins right now and ask for your forgiveness. I want to be filled with the Spirit. I will submit to your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Additional Scriptures:

Psalms 24
Colossians 2:20-23
II Corinthians 10:2-4
Galatians 4:2-5
James 1:26-27
Titus 2:11-13

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