Wake Up
Transcript
Good morning. Grab your Bibles. Go to Ephesians chapter 5. It's on page 569, if you have one of the blue Bibles in the row. We are walking verse by verse through the book of Ephesians. My name is Chet.
I'm one of the pastors here. And one of the primary complaints, I want us to think about this as we get started this morning, but one of the primary complaints that people levy against Christianity is that it takes everything beautiful and joyful and fun in the world, and then it says, don't do that. Don't enjoy that. It's like people believe that Christians believe that God created the world, and then he looked and he was talking to his angels and he said, it seems like humans really like that. And the angels are like, oh, they love it. It's one of their favorites.
And he's like, huh. And they enjoy this too. Yeah. Oh, they love that. Let's make a book and none of that can happen anymore.
Like, let's get rid of all the fun and all the joy and all the things that people chase after and like. We're just going to tell them none of that. That's kind of this idea that people have that this old, prideful, angry church lady picture of God where it's like this. Well, if you were smiling, if you were having fun, it's evil and God hates it. And that's that's this this picture that we have. And and honestly, what it what it comes from is that a deeply held belief that Christians actually have.
We do believe that God created the world, that he designed it, that it has purpose. And so there are ways to get it wrong and there are ways to get it right. Like there there's a design to your vehicle. My wife, when she first started driving, the first time she ever completely went from E to full on her car, she put diesel fuel in it. She made it across the street and it quit working. And they were like, are you out of gas?
She's like, no, I just filled it up. And they took took a while before they were like, where'd you fill it up? She's like right there. They were like right there. Where? And she's like right there at that green tank.
They were like, yeah, the green one's not the good one. And then later she went to a BP and all of them were green. And she got out and was like, no, like she had just taught herself, don't put green. It's like then she had to look and was like, oh, OK, I figured it out. Gas is fine. But there's rules.
There's certain things you can do and can't do. And we believe that that's how the world works. We actually think there's great evidence for this in the world. Like if you and I were walking through the woods and we found a wristwatch. And I picked it up and went, look at what nature made. And started looking at the trees.
You'd be like, fool, that's a wristwatch. A human made that. Trees don't make those. And we actually believe that there's great reason to look at creation, to look at the world and go, no, there's a whole lot of design here. There are a lot of things that are just rules that this is just how it works, that chaos didn't create this. That's what we're told to believe that swirling chaos just boom, exploded into order.
That's a cute story, but we've never actually seen that happen. Like there's never been a hurricane that just rolled through and built a city. It just doesn't happen. And I don't care if you do the infinite amount of hurricanes and infinite amount of universes. It's like, it's just that that's not how that works. It's not just like, boom, Sears Tower.
Like it just. They sold it. I don't know if it's called that anymore. But there's a. K-Mart Tower. It's just not how it works.
And so like they're one of the two of the bigger pictures of this, I think, that we can look at is math. Math is just math. It has rules. You can't be like, well, I mean, that math is for you, but this is what my math looks like. It's not how like when someone you're studying in class and they correct you and they say, no, that answer is wrong. You don't get to go, well, I don't see who you are to tell me I'm wrong with my math.
It's like they didn't even compute. It's like. Oh, you think you're like the in charge of math? You think you can just take your math and come over and tell my math what's right? It's like. Math is just the thing.
It's objective. Like it really matters. It really exists in the world. There was a ship that was made and it was this nation's and I can't remember somewhere in Europe. It was this nation's probably like it was going to be the chief ship of their armada. Like it was going to be.
It had more cannons, more like it was. It was beautiful. And they they sent it out and everybody stood and watched it make it about a half mile and then capsize and sink. And it was because they had used two different types of ruler, one on one side and one on the other side. They'd used an 11 inch ruler and a 12 inch ruler for what a foot was. And so it turns out that one side was heavier than the other and that doesn't work well in boats.
Because math exists. The ship sank. We believe math has a definitive design and we think that melody does that that music does it. There's an actual like if I was up here with Matt and Matt said, OK, I'm going to sing this part and I want you to sing the harmony. And I just started singing because I don't know what harmony is. And then he said, hey, stop.
That wasn't harmony. And I said, well, it was harmony to me. He'd be like, man, that's cute. Go sit down. I'm like, you just don't get to. That's not how this works.
Because music actually works like there's there's actual unless you're listening to jazz. There's like actual sounds that work together. And there's one music person that thought that was great. It all works together. The same sheet of music. Same thing with math.
And we actually believe that it's not just math and it's not just music, but it's also morality. That God designed the world. And so that there are actual things that it's like this is how the world is supposed to work. This is right. This is wrong. This is OK.
This isn't. And that it works and functions the same way because there is a good design behind it. And so that when people say Christianity takes all the fun things and says no, we actually say, well, maybe some of the things you would define as fun. Yeah. But that's not actually how Christianity works.
And that's not actually why God says no. And we're going to get to look at some of that this morning as we go to Ephesians chapter five. The reason we started that way this morning is because there are going to be some things that the world that the U.S. says this is the point. This is where joy is found. This is where love is found. This is where greatness is found.
This is where purpose is found. And the Bible just says no. Not not in that context. Not used in that way. Because there's a real, true design to God's world. Let's pray together.
And then we'll start reading in chapter five, verse one. God, we thank you for this time we have together this morning. And we pray that it would be fruitful, beneficial for our eternal souls. That you would go to work on our insides, on our hearts with your truth. That we might look more like you. And that we might more fully find the joy and the good that's in the world.
In Jesus name. Amen. Chapter five, verse one and two. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. This is where we ended last week. As beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.
A fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. So Paul in Ephesians is used a couple of times to say walk. He kind of it's a big transitionary statement. So he says walk and live a life in manner worthy of the gospel. He says walk in love. He's saying this is how we ought to look.
This is how life ought to look for us. So he says walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. A fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. So that's the gospel. That's that Jesus Christ came and lived on earth. And that he died in our place for our sins.
That he was our sacrifice. That he atoned for us and that he loved us so much that he gave himself up for us. And that actually is Christian love. That's the concept of Christian love. That it's self-sacrifice for the sake of another. Or self-sacrifice for the sake of others.
And you've got to realize it's not just sacrifice. But it's actually for others' sake or for another's sake. Christians don't believe just in asceticism. That you would just say no to everything. That you would just sacrifice all the good things from your life. And that that somehow would make you holy.
That you should wear uncomfortable clothes and eat bland tasting food. And that makes you good. No. Maybe you should eat bland tasting food for the sake of generosity to another. Maybe you should say no to alcohol because somebody else struggles with it. Maybe you should give up meat so that you can give more money away.
There's a reason behind it. It's for others. It's not just for the sake of sacrifice. And so that's what we're told is that he gave himself up for us. That he loved us and gave himself up for us. And that's Christian love.
Self-sacrifice for the sake of others. For the sake of grace and generosity. Verse 3. But. And so now he's pivoting off. He's saying this is how we're supposed to walk.
But. And he's telling us the contrast. The difference. The opposite. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you.
As is proper among saints. I'm going to read that again. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you. As is proper among saints. What he's saying is that there shouldn't even be a hint of it. There shouldn't even be a whiff of it.
It shouldn't even show up anywhere. This has no place with Christians. That's what the word saints means. It's those who were sinners who were made saints by Jesus. It means all Christians. It's not the Catholic understanding.
So what he's saying is all Christians. This shouldn't have a place among any of us. And so what I want us to do. We need to take a second to understand what those three words mean. Because we're not supposed to even have a hint of them. They're not supposed to be around anywhere.
Like our tolerance level for it should be zero. So we need to understand what they are if we're going to have that amount of intensity towards it. Sexual immorality. We'll spend a little more time here this morning. Just because I think we have more pushback. And maybe it's a little harder to see.
And we have a little more questions. This is one of the areas. This word sexual morality in the Bible makes a lot of people want to become a Bible scholar. We should be talking to someone and they'll go, yeah, but what does that word really mean? And it's like, that's actually great. We should do that.
We should ask that of the text. If we only ever ask it of this one though, maybe we're already indicating where our heart is. But here's, before we get into sexual morality, you have to understand the biblical picture of sex. And some people think that Christians' position is that sex is dirty and gross and evil and disgusting. Save it for your spouse. That's the understanding of sex that Christians have.
And that's not the understanding that the Bible has. That's not what is taught about sex. That is actually good and beautiful and by God's design that it would be enjoyable and delightful. And then save it for your spouse. That's the biblical Christian understanding. So we see in Genesis 2.24 where it says a man will leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife or cleave to his wife.
And the two will become one flesh. Now that is specifically speaking of a distinct union. And it is a sexual union. They will become one flesh. And immediately, if you just kind of think about that picture, you're going, okay. Like I get the physical picture of two people becoming one flesh sexually.
But it actually means more than that. It has greater weight than that. And here's one of the ways that we know that clearly. It's taught throughout the Old Testament that you would have one husband, one wife, one man, one woman. And that that's the only avenue for sex and sexual activity is that category. And it was not held that you could do any other form of anything throughout the Old Testament.
In 1 Corinthians 6.16, Paul says, Do you not know that when you are united with a prostitute? Now, prostitute means the word prostitute. It's the same that we have now. But they did not have the song All the Single Ladies would not have been a hit in first century Rome. And because they didn't have All the Single Ladies. You lived with your dad.
And then you lived with your husband. There wasn't this category of adult single females. The category for adult single female was prostitute. So if you slept around, it was either someone's wife or was a prostitute. There wasn't this category of females who had their own house, had their own Job, unless they were widowed. Okay?
So when he says prostitute, he means prostitute because that was the category it was. But it also would mean more now because we have a different category of how life can work. You know, y'all get to go to college and have jobs and rent. You can sign stuff. You can own a house, you guys. Like all this stuff that a lot of it came out of Christianity where Christians started saying, I think women are people.
You don't know that, but that's what we said. So he says, Don't you know that whoever is united with a prostitute becomes one flesh with her? Now, if one flesh just meant is physically united, if it just meant the physical act, then what Paul would have said very profoundly was, Do you not know that anyone who is physically united with a prostitute is physically united with a prostitute? That's not what he's saying. He's saying, Don't you know that whoever is physically united with a prostitute is one fleshing, is becoming united in a deep spiritual way, is doing what ought to happen only in the confines of marriage.
Because God designed sex to be an all-giving, all-sacrificing activity. That it is a covenant ceremony. That it is a commitment ceremony. Tim Keller calls it a radical self-donation. That it is to say, All of me, and all that I have, and all that belongs to me, and everything I own, and everything that I have is to belong to you. And I'm donating it.
That that's what it's designed to be. That it is a union. So Paul says, Don't you know the weight of this? And then in Ephesians 5, which we're going to read here as soon as Easter is over, in 5.31, he says, Paul says that, I'll read it since it's right here, I don't have to flip to it. Because we are members of his body. Verse 31, Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
So he quotes Genesis. And then he says, This mystery is profound, and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Okay, so Paul goes another more explosive layer on this, where he says that the original intent behind sexual union and marriage, this covenanting, was a picture of Christ and his people. That he was going to become one with us. That he was going to join us in flesh, and that he was going to make us his. That this delight in sexual activity is meant to be a small picture of the delight that the church will enjoy with Christ for eternity.
So when people, whole religions will picture heaven, there's a few, I've seen two clear pictures of heaven when it comes to sex and sexuality. There's probably other ones, these are the ones I've seen. There's whole religions that say, when you get to heaven, all the sex. Like that's what it's about. There's just tons of ladies there for your sexing. Like that's it.
Like that's a talk. Like that's heaven. And it's like, okay, I think we've elevated sex to a weird spot, but all right. And then Christians come along and you're like, I mean, I remember being in like, uh, you know, an adolescent, non-married person who was trying not to have sex. And we would ask questions like, Hey, is there sex in heaven? And they'd be like, no, there's not.
And then we'd be like, okay. I remember distinctly having someone look at me and go, you know, like, I'm really excited for Jesus to come back, but I hope he comes back after I've had sex. Cause I just don't want to go to heaven and have that not have happened. And we just understand like our picture is that's either the point or it's not there. And we'll all be sad. Um, that actually is such a warped view of how delightful Jesus is and what the picture was supposed to be.
Anyway, sex is good. It is delightful. It's meant to image something that is far greater and far more beautiful and far more lovely. And that's why we've said multiple times and we'll say it again, but I'll go ahead and say today that you can live your entire life and never have sex and be a fully complete adult human. Jesus did. Like you can, you're fine because the ultimate picture of what it's supposed to point to is way better and we won't miss it.
So say all that to say the word sexual immorality means not that good picture. So if I asked you what is counterfeit money, you would respond something that looks like money, but isn't money. Like we just, we know what money is. And so anything else that's pretending isn't that. And so the picture of sex in the Bible is inside of a relationship between a man and a wife, husband and wife, man and woman in a covenant relationship with a self donating, uh, self covenanting sexuality. And everything outside of that is outside of that.
And it's sexual morality. The Greek word is pornea. It's used all over the place. It's used to describe prostitutes, both male and female. It's used multiple times to understand this word sexual immorality. It's used to describe someone as an illegitimate child.
They just call them a pornea, which just means, uh, they came from sex. That wasn't this. What that's really helpful for us, by the way, because if God just gave us a big list, that'd be a really long section of the Bible. It was just like, don't do this. Don't do this. Don't do this.
Don't do this. Don't do this. And then we'd find something that wasn't on the list and be like, home free. We can do this. And then, and what it says is, no, this is what it's supposed to look like. So everything outside of that is not that.
And it's sexual immorality. This also includes, Paul says the betrothed. So in first Corinthians seven, Paul keeps going from his, where he says in six 16, he also says, if you're betrothed and you're burning with desire, get married. He does not say, well, if you've made promises, that's fine. You don't have to burn with desire. You're free.
No, he says, if you're betrothed, get married. So this idea of, well, we're going to get married or it's like we're married or we're he, Paul actually comes in right in that little spot and says, no, sex is okay. Once you've made the full commitment, because it's a self donating, self-sacrifice on behalf of another. First Corinthians seven, two says, because of sexual, because of the temptation to sexual morality, as Paul using the same word, each man should have his own wife and each woman, her own husband. So what he says is, because you're tempted to do this, get married and it won't be that.
So he just says what we just said, which is sex is okay here. Sex is not okay there. I did that. And we took the time there this morning out of this list, because that's the one where we most go, um, but doesn't it mean, but wouldn't it be okay if, Hey, I was thinking my uncle told me like, no, Jesus actually draws the line at lust. So he says, don't look at a woman lustfully.
So he takes it just to your mind. So if you're like, how far is too far? Jesus is like, well, what were you thinking about? Oh, hold on a second. I just meant like, is it bad if we moved to the backseat? And you were saying, what were you like?
What did you think? What were you looking at? Jesus says, just turn around and go the other ways. This is the acceptable zone. And then if you're married, this is the acceptable zone. Now we'll do a little more of understanding why Christianity teaches that.
Cause the next response to, okay, if that's what the word says, fine, but I don't like that. Or I don't understand why God would say that. And here's part of one of the arguments people make is, well, sex is so natural. It's just an appetite. It's just a desire. It's, it's normal and natural and healthy.
Christianity's not saying that it's not. Yeah, it's natural. Yeah, it's normal. Yeah, it's healthy. You, John Piper says, you put a fence around a garden, not around weeds. Like you, you protect what's important.
Like if you broke in someone's house and you were a professional cat burglar and you went and moved a fancy painting and there was a safe and you put your little thing on and you started cracking it because you know you're awesome. And you pop it open. You would not find that that safe was their dirty clothes hamper. It wouldn't just be like old socks. Why? Because we don't protect what isn't important.
And so the reason the Bible draws a fence around this is because it's potent, powerful, meaningful, not because it's less. The Bible thinks more about sex than we do. Maybe not more often, but it thinks more highly of it. I didn't want you to get confused with what I was saying there. Some of you are like, I'm going to read my Bible more. Alright, let's regain our focus here.
Sexual morality and all impurity. So what he does with all impurity, that word just means, a lot of times when he talks about impurity, it means specifically sexual impurity, but when he says sexual morality and all impurity, he's just zooming out. He's just pinching it and widening it out. What he's saying is like, not just sexual morality, but all the impurity, all the things that we chase after and throw off, all of the, it's when we say there's no inhibitions, there's no rules, there's no, we can just chase after everything we want, and they usually go hand in hand. That's why they're put together a lot.
But what he's saying is, it's not just sexual morality, but it's all of the times that we just say, there are no rules, everything's free, I can do what I want, I can pursue decadence, and debauchery, and everything that makes me feel good. It's this pursuit of personal pleasure. And they do go together. So, I saw an article recently, it's in Newsweek, it's in Vanity Fair, talking about the same thing, where this person kind of started interviewing people in the Silicon Valley, kind of the cutting edge of technology, and what they found out was, this cutting edge, progressive people, who are kind of expanding our horizons when it comes to technology, have these drug induced sexual orgy parties, where everybody shows up, and it's just this kind of rampant thing, and when you, they were talking and interviewing some of these people, and they were like, yeah, we're progressive everywhere, including our sexuality.
And the person writing the article was like, um, this actually isn't progressive, this has been happening forever. This happened in the 1970s at the Playboy Mansion, this happened in the 1960s at Woodstock, this happened at Bacchus and Dionysus festivals in the first century AD, to sit and say, we're going to chase all of this pleasure, and we're going to include sexuality in it, isn't progressive. It's the same thing. I was reading some of this article, and I was like, I agree with the writer of Vanity Fair. That's not progressive at all. You're right.
It's sin, and it's the same thing. And so that's what Paul says, it's not just this, but it's when we suddenly say, well, you know what makes sex better is Molly. And ecstasy, and drug use, and celebration, and party, and whatever that ends up looking like, he's saying the pursuit of, and the throwing off of, restraint. One of the ways that we say this now is, what's right for you is right for you, does it hurt anybody? Those are our kind of two moral rules. Are you hurting someone?
And we just say, well, if it doesn't directly hurt them, then you're fine, do what you want. And Paul says no. Covetousness. All impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you. Covetousness can also be translated greediness. Later he says covetousness, which is idolatry, meaning that we've so focused in on something that it's become our life pursuit, that it means more to God, that it's what we worship, it's what we have to have.
To covet means to want something that's not yours. Maybe specifically to want something that's someone else's. But it's this devotion to things. That my life will be better if I could just have. That all I'm really working for is this. And now all of my time and all of my energy goes towards this.
So Paul says, sexual morality, all impurity or covetousness don't have a place among you. Now this is hard for us as Americans because we don't live in a prudish society that's anti-sex. We live in a place that has completely sold out to the idea that more and better sex will fix you. That there is no real rules as long as you're not hurting someone. And our whole consumer system is based off of covetousness. That you see something that someone else has and then you get one.
That's how that works. For us. See, it's the throwing off restraint in selfish pursuit of personal pleasure. Has no place among Christians. Throwing off restraint in the selfish pursuit of personal pleasure. I'm going to chase after my own desires and I'm going to be filled up.
Verse 4. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. No filthiness, no foolish talk, nor crude joking. That crude joking term means crude joking. It can mean vulgar jokes. It can also mean like biting sarcasm.
Jokes that hurt people that have gone too far. So filthiness. So filthiness. Just being dirty, being vulgar, trying to find the crudest terms. Trying to be like, well, I'm an adult so I can use all these words. And it's like, yeah, this isn't helpful.
Is it edifying? Foolish talk. I think, honestly, a lot of times our foolish talk comes in is certainly whenever we're sinfully talking, when we're harming people, when we're being sarcastic in a biting harmful way, when we're talking poorly about people. It's all the stuff we talked about a few weeks ago where Paul says that let our words be building people up and not tearing them down. I think it's also when we get too focused on things that aren't that important. That's foolish.
So if I said, I really like Oreos, I'd be like, yeah, it's America's favorite cookie or milk's favorite cookie or both. I don't remember the slogan. And it's like, yeah, but if I said no, but I have to have a thing of Oreos in my house at all times, so I always have two just because sometimes I run out. You'd be like, okay. That sounds excessive, but Oreos are good. And if I said, I'm going to devote my whole life to Oreos and I'm going to start a podcast where we just talk about Oreos, you'd be like, that sounds dumb because it'd be foolish to take something that was fine and then make it so important.
Okay, so foolish talk. Go on Facebook. Find the thing that someone that was fine, but then they made it the category for how you know if you're an okay human. This is good. It's a good thing to do this with your spouse or your children or your money. Everyone who doesn't is a complete idiot and is probably going to Hades.
It's like, oh, it's probably foolish. Like, let's tone it down. It's good. You can't devote your whole life to it. This is sports are good, but now, I'm going to devote my whole life to knowing every single thing about 18 to 20 year olds. Or 18 to 24 year olds and who's getting recruited and where they're coming from and what their high school is like and who their mom is.
It's like, ah, I think we've moved. I think we've moved from an okay thing to a foolish thing. Then he says, filthy, crude joking. And here's, I have a problem with this. I have a problem with this. I never liked this verse because I think I understood what it meant and I didn't want.
You ever read a Bible verse and you're like, I think that's correcting me and so then you go, well, I don't really know what that means. Nobody else has done that? Just me? Where it's like, that seems obvious. Probably isn't what I thought it was because then I'd have to change. Or you just think, you know, there's other stuff in the Bible that I'm not really doing.
I should focus on those because this is the one you don't really want to mess with. That was that for me because I had in my mind wrapped up the idea that crude joking was part of manliness. That was a part of how men talked and how masculinity worked and how you spoke about things and how you talked and it was like, you know, boys can't say these words, men can. And so I didn't like the idea that I wasn't supposed to because it was like, yeah, but I don't want to sound like a boy. I talk like a man. It's like, well, my version of masculinity is really messed up because that's not godly maybe it is manliness if you mean by man sinfulness.
Sure. It's great manliness but it's not godliness. I also think when it comes to some of this, some of you who are practicing filthiness and foolish talk and crude joking made all of those decisions in middle school. Right around the time you were 12, 13 is when you decided this is cool and this is how you were going to talk and I would just suggest that you wouldn't let middle school you make any other lifelong decisions for you and you might want to reconsider. And if that's not when that happened, still reconsider because we're told to. Here's why this matters.
It's about to get really serious. So if it hadn't been so far, verse 5, for you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Paul said, you may be sure of this. The sexually immoral, the impure or the covetousness, that is an idolater, have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Now, does that mean has ever done this?
I don't think so. It's an identity thing. So he says, those who are actively practicing identified by sexual immorality, I mean, a murderer, a career thief can do a nice thing, but that's not the thing that categorizes them. It's not the thing that they've set their life around. So it's a category of practicing active sexual immorality, pursuing impurity, pursuing covetousness, living a life of greed.
He says, you can be sure of this. They have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Now, the way he's using inheritance is he says it in the earlier chapters of Ephesians that we've been given an inheritance by Christ's work on our behalf, that the Holy Spirit has sealed us, that keeps us for our inheritance. And so what he's saying is that if someone's actively practicing these things, they are not a Christian. You can be certain of it. If this is how they categorize their life, they don't belong to Jesus.
And then he says, let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. That those who would step in and say, well, it's really not that bad, no, this is okay. This is alright. Their words are empty and deceptive and they are not your friend. Now, why is this carrying this weight? Why does Paul say this is a clear indication that this is not a lifestyle change, that they don't belong to Jesus?
Let me tell you who will not be in the kingdom. That's what he says. Let me tell you who you won't meet in heaven. The sexually immoral, the impure, and the covetous. They don't belong to him. He started this chapter by saying, let's imitate God, be imitators of God, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.
Sexual immorality, pursuit of impurity, and covetousness are antithetical to the gospel. They're headed in the opposite direction because the gospel is this. Christ loved us and he gave himself up for us. So we trust in him and we believe that he is where everything good and holy and right is found. That he's where joy and pleasure are found. And then because we believe that he is all that is good and everything pleasurable and enjoyable is in him, then we belong to him, then we sacrifice for the sake of others.
That Christianity at its heart, at its root, is this self-sacrifice of Jesus that works its way into love and self-sacrifice on behalf of those who belong to Jesus. And sexual immorality is not self-sacrifice, it is selfishness. And a pursuit of impurity and personal pleasure is not self-sacrifice, it is selfishness. And covetousness and greed is not self-sacrifice, it is selfishness. And therefore, it stands in stark contrast with the gospel. I want to give two specific reasons why that's true.
One, it's not walking in love and giving ourself up for others. It's easier to see, I think, in covetousness and greed, like we can all rally around at times and at different points in society like we have where people had the robber barons and then you had the fat cats on Wall Street and now you've got the 1% who are greedy. You've got Kim Jong-un who's greedy, who for his own sake and for his own benefit he harms those around him. And everybody will stand around and say, it's so evil, it's so greedy to take from others and to hoard for yourself and to just worry about your own enjoyment and benefit.
And then at the same time, we'll step in and say, but the free sex movement and what I do in the privacy of my home and what happens in our relationship is different. And the Bible says, no, they're in the same category. And here's why. Sex was meant to be self-donation and self-sacrifice and without the commitment and without the covenant, it's selfish. It's self-enjoyment and self-pleasure. And you might respond, whoa, hold on a second.
It's mutual. Okay. You're both sinful. These people can respond. If they didn't want to get paid this wage, they can work somewhere else. If you really didn't want me to be this wealthy, you can buy other products.
If women wanted to get paid as much as men, fill in the sentence. And if you say, well, this is... And it's like, yeah, maybe the whole system's off. Maybe they think that's the way that relationships work or how they have to stay in this relationship or it was the only time you ever told them you loved them or the only time they ever felt love like this. It's the same thing. That actually, the Harvey Weinsteins and the Matt Lowers are just carrying this out to its logical conclusion because it is, at its root, selfishness.
It's not self-sacrifice on behalf of another. It's not giving ourselves up. Honestly, if you are ignorant, to the fact that sexual morality is sin and you're actively practicing it, you're harmful, but you're not malicious. But if you're not ignorant to what the Bible says about it, that because of it, wrath is coming on the sons of disobedience, you're cruel. It's actually cruelty to be in a relationship where you pressure and participate in sexual immorality at the sake of the other who's joining you in sin and headed for wrath. He says, sexual morality, impurity, and covetousness.
To say that my whole life is built around and pursuit of and this is what fills me up and this is what is good and I'm unwilling to repent. He says that, be certain. You don't belong to Jesus. The throwing off restraint and selfish pursuit of personal pleasure is antithetical to the gospel. The second reason is that it preaches a false gospel about where the good life is found. That we're supposed to be pictures of Christ who proclaim that He is all that is good and He is all that is holy and He is all that is right, but then if we say, well, when He says that I shouldn't have sex outside of marriage, I don't really listen to that one.
I've actually had people before say, okay, I may become a Christian but I'm not going to do the no sex thing and I've just said that's not how it works. That it actually, we proclaim with our lives that we think this is better, that this is more enjoyable, that this is good. That we proclaim with our lives when we spend our whole time, all of our money goes to ourselves and it all goes to our personal pleasure and it all goes to our personal satisfaction that we're telling the world this is where joy is found, this is where life is found, this is where good is found. That's a false gospel. Joy and good are found in Jesus.
So that's why the Christian response to covetousness is hard work and generosity because that's what Jesus did. That's why Paul earlier says, let thieves no longer steal but let them work hard and share. We respond by looking like the gospel. Hard work and generosity is a small picture of the gospel in the midst of covetousness. It's saying, no, we believe our good things are found elsewhere and that part of my labor is supposed to be self-sacrifice on behalf of others. And that's why the Christian response to sexual morality is chastity.
And that's a word we don't use. Abstinence is another one but chastity is a better one because chastity is like a good picture of a thing and abstinence just means don't. chastity means do this. Abstain for a good purpose because it displays God that it's sacrifice on behalf of another. You may be certain, do not be deceived. It's not winked at, it's not excused, and anyone who tells you it's okay is not your friend. God.
Now I pray to God that if those of us in here who would say, no, this is, this is a full part of my life, the practice of sexual morality or this is a full part of my life, the pursuit of impurity that I'm just saying in this area, Jesus isn't involved because I just want to pursue this thing that feels good. I don't know what that is. I don't know if that's alcohol or marijuana or your approach to food. I don't know. I don't know where, I don't know where we're saying, this is the thing, I just don't want him to tell me no. And I don't know if there's people in here saying no, my whole life right now is just I want stuff.
My devotion to it and I don't really have set aside to share and I just, all I think about is how I could move up and how my house could be bigger and how my land could be bigger and how my car could be nicer. I see someone dressed well and I just have to get that. And I pray that for us there's this moment of saying, okay, what do I do? Verse 7. Therefore, because this is true and because it's antithetical to the gospel and because it has no place among Christians, therefore, do not become partners with them for at one time you were darkness. So he's talking to Christians, you were darkness but now you are light in the world.
So what he said is be certain that those who practice these things don't belong to Jesus and then he goes right back to saying, but you do. So don't participate. You were darkness but now you're light in the world. Walk as children of light for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. The Christians would know that everything good and right and true belongs to us and that we would decide what pleases God not just what pleases me and that we would not participate. So I would just ask who are you partnered with and who are you imitating?
Does your approach to money look way more like the American approach to money or the Jesus approach to money? God's approach to money. Does your approach to impurity and sexuality look way more like the American approach? Are you partnered with Americans? Are you imitating Americans and therefore excusing well I look like everybody else it can't be that big a deal and I don't even care if you're just saying well other people in the church do this. You can be certain they don't belong to Jesus if that's their active practice in life.
So don't look at someone in your group and say they do it. God help them that they do that. And may He lead them to repentance. And may they find Jesus. 11. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness but instead expose them.
Here's our answer. and it's a glorious answer. Here's God's beautiful response in the midst of a coming wrath. Take no part expose it for it's shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret but when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light. Now that's not a true statement but it is here.
I can't say hey will you shine your flashlight at my shoe I want my shoe to become a flashlight. This is not how it works. My shoe shines it reflects light so we get a little bit of a picture of that but that's what He says though is everything that is exposed and brought into the light becomes light. That we would take no part in unfruitful works of darkness and that we would expose them. That's in ourselves that some of you have something that needs to be exposed. that needs to be brought out and laid out. And some of you have something that you need to go to someone else and say hey this is an unfruitful work of darkness and I need to help shine some light on it for you because you're walking in and I don't think it's going to help.
I don't think it leads to health or good or joy. I actually believe that there's a good God and there's a coming wrath. But I also believe back half of 14 therefore it says awake oh sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. I believe that there's a coming wrath and I believe that there's a Christ who took that wrath. I believe that there's a coming wrath on the sons of disobedience and I believe that there was an obedient son who became disobedience for us so that that wrath doesn't have to get us. I believe that wrath is coming on sons of disobedience but I also believe in an obedient son.
And I believe that he took God's wrath on our behalf and I believe that we get to wake up and not just wake up arise from the dead. Maybe some of you have felt so guilty and I hope so. But I hope you don't walk out those doors feeling guilty. I hope you walk out those doors feeling free because sometimes we want to say I think I'm so far gone I think I'm already too deep in it I think it's gone too far I think this is too much a mode of my heart and he says he raises the dead we believe in a God of resurrection. There's nothing more far gone than dead and our God says not even that is beyond my reach.
That Jesus Christ died as an obedient son so that we might not face the wrath that is coming for us that we absolutely deserve but that we can be those who arise with Christ and here's what he says that whatever you confess whatever you expose becomes light. that it actually Christ shines in it. Do you know who the most glorious person in heaven is? Do you know who displays Christ most beautifully is the person who least deserved to be there. Some people are like of course they're in heaven they're a good person and there are other people who are like no way that person got in. It's like but if they believed in Christ he shines in them.
Do you know the most beautiful part of Christ in your life is the part that looked the most far gone? It's Ali and Foreman where he's just getting pummeled round after round after round after round and then he just pops off the side of the ropes and wears Foreman out. The best game I was ever a part of as a football player we were down 24-0 at halftime. I played a lot of games where we just beat people. Those were fun. They weren't the ones I get to point back to and say that one was great.
And there are places in your life that are dark and hideous and filthy and disgusting and immoral and those are the places where when Christ shines when you expose them in confession Jesus displays his greatness in an unparalleled manner because morality and good behavior is what we're told save you in so many other religions and Christians say no. Jesus saves in the midst of everything that was dark and broken and hideous about me. and let me tell you all that was dark and broken and hideous so that you can see a good and glorious obedient son who's a savior and who took the wrath I deserved. Wake up. bring it into the light and have Jesus raise you from the dead so that Christ may shine. Bring it into the light expose it so that Christ will shine that he'll shine in the midst of our confession of our sin he'll shine as we confess our savior. the band's gonna come back up we're Christians we believe in resurrection we believe that we repent of sin and that we walk with Jesus and that in the midst of our repentance and our brokenness and our sinfulness that he is his glory is displayed because there is no religion that saves sinners like Jesus saves sinners that what qualifies you for salvation is your sin not your goodness and it's in the midst of our darkest worst most hideous evil that he most displays his goodness and grace on our behalf that his grace is bigger that his salvation is sufficient I'm gonna read a quote from a song and then we'll sing together this is called Felix Culpa it's by the band King's Kaleidoscope Felix Culpa is a Latin phrase that means a fortunate fall and it's talking about this idea that it's at our worst that he is the most glorified it says turn the lights on and look at what I have see the twisted trophies of a dead man countless stories tell of sin and pain but they sing the sweetness of my savior's grace I'm a torn man spirit fighting flesh there's a battle raging deep in my chest but all that haunts me and all that leaves a stain only sings the sweetness of my savior's grace a fortunate fall my sins are stories of grace to recall a fortunate fall I glory in my sins forgiven Jesus bought me and now I am his and dying with him in his death I now lived all my vices to which I was chained only speak the sweetness of my savior's grace if you need to expose sin do it if you need to repent do it so that Christ may shine on you and you can rise from the dead and you can be counted with the living who belong to Jesus only because he dies to sin and raises again in new life through it you of my and my and and I will and I will and and
