Ephesians Chapter 5
Verse 1 “‘Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.'” (NLT) Ephesians 4:32, the verse just before this, tells us actually what imitating God looks like: to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. So that’s the description of God that we need to imitate. Unless we love one another like this, none of our duties, no amount of doing for God, will be acceptable to God.
Verse 4 “‘Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.'” (NLT) Cussing, perverse joking, unprofitable or idle conversations. Foolish talk is the kind that doesn’t lift others up and or is just words and pleasantries that have no meaning to them. We can easily get caught up in gossip and other people’s stories about other people that have nothing to do with us or the other person we’re talking to. They are rabbit holes. This is a good reminder to watch my ears and what holds my attention.
Verse 4 ends with “let there be thanksgiving to God” (in reference to how we should talk). This word is actually “grace” in the original Greek, not what we think of as thanksgiving today. So basically it is saying, let your conversations be sweet and graceful. Using this word grace instead of thanksgiving may not seem like a big deal but it does change the way I think about this statement. If I had conversations full of thanksgiving, I think about my words being “thank you, Lord, for this… or that” (even if a terrible thing happens, we find a way to put God back on the throne and say, “thank you, Lord, that your ways are higher and you are in control.” But if I think about conversations full of grace, those words look more like “I know this is tough, God’s grace covers this…” or “only by the grace of God can we be standing here having this conversation or experiencing this good thing in our lives… or find redemption after this bad thing happened.” Or when someone hurts you, the first thing out of your mouth would be grace for their mistake. My words are different or I guess the way that I think about the conversation is different. Thanksgiving and Grace are very similar but when I try to describe those words and what my conversations look like according to those words, they are different.
There are many scriptures throughout the Bible that talk about being in a place of Thanksgiving in our hearts. So that is incredibly important that our conversations with God should be filled with Thanksgiving. And our conversations with others should even be filled with Thanksgiving. But this particular scripture is talking about the conversation that these people are having with each other. And they were getting caught up in foolish talk and obscene things in their conversations. And Paul is using the word grace, to be graceful in our talk. For it to be sweet. That’s a little different than thanksgiving, but yes, should still include thanksgiving because other scriptures point out that our minds should dwell in a place of thanksgiving and we should speak of it.
Verses 6 – 11 These verses talk about people who try to excuse sins and live in darkness.
Verse 7 “‘Don’t participate in the things these people do.'” (NLT) We shouldn’t be one of those people who make excuses for their sin because we are now children of light. We are different now from who we used to be. We are enlightened by the Spirit of God in his Truth (the Word) and by His conviction in our spirit. And we have a loving Father who isn’t looking for an excuse. He holds out love and forgiveness and wants repentance and obedience. We should take His will, which is His word, as the rule and regulate our life by it. We are walking in the Light when we do not walk according to our own will but choose God’s Word to lead us. When we feel like giving up or giving in to our feelings and emotions, this is our own will. But when we live in the light then we devote ourselves to obeying God’s word. When we take God’s Word and live that out in our lives, it results in fruit in our lives, such as righteousness, goodness, and truth.
Verse 11 “‘Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.'” (NLT) There’s a lot of power on display when we call out the devil as a liar when we see him. Have you ever been in an argument where someone would demean your character and cut you down? Personal attacks? Mad people can say a lot in their anger that means nothing. But when that happens, you can speak up against it and call out what is the spirit of the enemy. Quote scriptures, “Actually, that’s not what Jesus says about me. His Word says…”. You can keep scriptures ready, on guard, ready to use when the devil comes prowling around and pounces in on an argument. Call out the devil and say “that is what the spirit of the enemy and darkness would say and you are not a child of the darkness so I rebuke that in the name of Jesus. The devil is a liar.” Claim Jesus over what is true and call the devil out with the Word of God. The Bible says that the name of Jesus holds power. There are countless stories where the devil flees when he is called out as a liar. Let Jesus fight your battles; you stand on the Truth. I use the name of Jesus and His word (scriptures) like a sword in a battle. You’re going to see in chapter 6 here in Ephesians that it talks about the armor of God. And it says that God‘s word is a sword that we need to carry and be ready to use. A sword pierces its enemy. So whenever you use the Word, in the name of Jesus, the enemy loses His grip. Because he already lost this battle years ago and is still trying to trick people into believing he holds power.
Verse 14 “‘for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”’ (NLT) This says that when Jesus enlightens us, we rise from death, (that is the darkness that once kept us dead to Christ) to new life. A new way of living. A better way of living. Full of truth, joy, peace, love, and grace.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for being such a good God to me. Even when I didn’t know I needed You, You were still there calling me home to You with love and forgiveness waiting for me. I want to imitate You in all I do. Tenderize my heart to be kind to others when it’s easier to be cold. Help me to forgive people who hurt me, as You forgave me every time I disobeyed Your way for my life. Bridle my tongue when I’m around people cussing, gossiping, or having conversations with no meaning to them. When I’m tempted to complain, transform every thought to one of thanksgiving, so what flows from my mouth is grace when I think about You, Lord. I don’t want to make excuses for my sin. I don’t need to. Expose the darkness that is still in me, that I might awake from my sleep and walk in the light of Your ways, Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen.