Sermon-"Deception" based on Ephesians 5:3-7
Introduction: What is deception? The fact or state of being causing a person to believe what is not true; misled, ensnared, tricked.
I want you think about a time when you were deceived. What attracted you? What lie did you believe? Why did you keep believing? What changed?
Deceived in Deeds (3-5)
·
Vs. 3-Hint of sexual
immorality (fornication, unchaste) or impurity (unclean) or greed
o Vs. 1-2-Imitators of God, dearly loved children, live a life
of love, Christ loved us and gave himself up for us
o any
sexual indulgence outside of marriage[1]
o Paul turns from ‘self-sacrifice … to its very
opposite, self-indulgence’, from genuine ‘love’ to that perversion of it called
‘lust’.[2]
o James
Bryan Smith describes how God’s good gifts can be used in the wrong way.
“Desire becomes sin when it moves from being something we enjoy to something we
seek as our main desire…But when God is not the center of what we do, then we
must fill that void with something and when we do, we find that desire is
insatiable (we need more and more and feel less satisfied.” God alone
satisfies.
·
Vs. 3-Why? Improper
(should not be named among) for God’s holy people (literally saints)
o 19th Century Orthodox priest John of Kronstadt
speaking to those were drunk in the streets. “This is beneath your dignity. You were meant
to house the fullness of God.” He didn’t say you miserable, horrible drunks but
instead He reminded them who they were. Remember
vs. 1-2.
·
Vs. 4-Obscenity, foolish
talk or coarse joking but rather thanksgiving
o Rather
he would demand that if conversation is about sex, or possessions, or people,
it should be directed by the spirit of thanksgiving and praise, towards seeing
and acknowledging the loveliness and beauty of God’s gifts.[3]
o Paul
speaks about a misuse of language-not against words and jokes but misuse
o It’s
interesting that Paul’s solution for the misuse of language is one thing
“thankfulness”
·
Vs. 5-No immoral, impure,
or greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ. Such a man is an
idolater (worship something other than God)
o Paul
is fighting against early Gnosticism (spiritual belief) separated the spiritual
from the body. It believed that what we
do with our bodies does not affect us spiritually.
o Listen
to scholars’ thoughts on this verse:
§ (John
Calvin) Paul does not say that those who have fallen into those sins, and
recovered from them, are not pardoned, but pronounces sentence on the sins
themselves.[4]
§ (John
Stott) It should not be understood as teaching that even a single immoral
thought, word or deed is enough to disqualify us from heaven; otherwise, which
of us would ever qualify for admission?[5]
§ (R.C.
Sproul) Paul is not saying here that if you were ever guilty of coveting
somebody else’s possessions that thereby you are eternally disqualified from
the kingdom of God.[6]
§ (Warren
Wiersbe) These warnings deal with the habitual practice of sin, and not the
occasional act of sin.[7]
o What
makes us a part of the kingdom of Christ?
Faith not works
o I
want us in the church to see that when we see these sins in practice in others
and ourselves. To understand, there is a
deception going on by the father of lies, Satan. He makes sexual immorality, greed, improper
language look good. But instead of condemning
the person being deceived (our battle is not against flesh and blood), we need
to do battle in the spiritual realms through prayer, worship, and the Word of
God.
Deceived in Doctrine (6-7)
·
Vs. 6-Deceived with empty
words
o Minimize sin-Redefining sin, they are not that bad, we all
have our faults/weaknesses rather than using the word sin, want to have my fun
while I am young, “boys will be boys”, Satan “Did God really say?
o The
moment we are regenerated, the Spirit of God comes to dwell in our hearts to
motivate us, to give us an obedient heart. [8]
o We
live from our identity in Christ. We
obey because we are dearly loved children.
o Just
as we can be deceived to minimize sin, we can also be deceived to minimize
faith (pride/arrogance) We add to the gospel. It’s faith AND
§ Baptism
§ Political
Party (Republican or Democrat)
§ Doing
Something (Reading your Bible, prayer, serving, being good)
·
Vs. 6-Why? God’s wrath
for those who are disobedient
o “The
wrath of God” is the reaction of God’s holiness and righteousness against sin.[9]
o There
is no wrath left for those who are in Christ Jesus. Jesus took that wrath upon himself on the
cross.
§ When
the NT says “propitiation,” then, it means that Jesus’ death on the cross for
the sins of mankind put away God’s wrath against his people once and for all.[10]
·
2 He
is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins
of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)
·
through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his
blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because
in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It
was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and
the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:24-26)
·
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved
us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
·
Vs. 7-Do not be partners
with them
o It
is not referring to separation from the world.
It is not avoiding unbelievers. the word ‘refers to participation, not
just association’ (Stott).[11]
It means we have been transformed and are different from the world so we live
differently.
Closing:“God’s instructions are good gifts to sustain his abiding communion with those on whom he has set his steadfast love. The aim of the Lord’s many “dos and don’ts” is not merely to manage our behavior. It is to reconfigure the longings of our hearts. To be sure, God has not invested the law’s directives with the life-giving power to produce such heart transformation. Only his Holy Spirit can enliven our hearts.” (Dennis E. Johnson)
Pray: Have I been deceived in deeds and/or doctrine?
Who is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in light of this deception?
[1]
Foulkes, F. (1989). Ephesians: an introduction and commentary
(Vol. 10, p. 146). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[2] Stott,
J. R. W. (1979). God’s new society: the message of Ephesians
(p. 191). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[3] Foulkes,
F. (1989). Ephesians: an introduction and commentary
(Vol. 10, p. 148). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[4]
Calvin, J., & Pringle, W. (2010). Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and
Ephesians (p. 307). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[5]
Stott, J. R. W. (1979). God’s new society: the message of Ephesians
(p. 197). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[6]
Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Purpose of God: Ephesians (p.
124). Scotland: Christian Focus Publications.
[7]
Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary
(Vol. 2, p. 45). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[8]
Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Purpose of God: Ephesians (p.
125). Scotland: Christian Focus Publications.
[9]
Lenski, R. C. H. (1937). The interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians,
to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (p. 603).
Columbus, O.: Lutheran Book Concern.
[10]
Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Propitiation. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 2, p. 1784). Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Book House.
[11]
Foulkes, F. (1989). Ephesians: an introduction and commentary
(Vol. 10, p. 149). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
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