Be Imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1-21)

Daniel L. Arter

The Letter to the Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

Ephesians 5:1–21

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Announcements

Don’t forget that this Sunday, June 27th, our Sunday AM service will be under Pavilion 2 at Coldstream Dam. The service will be at 10:30am with a cookout to follow. Invite your friends, family, and co-workers to the service and plan to stick around for lunch.

On July 4th, 2021—please plan to stick around after the service for a quick quarterly business meeting

On July 11th, 2021, don’t forget that we have missionaries coming to visit us that Sunday. It will be an opportunity for you to hear what their ministry plans and goals are as well as an opportunity for us to pray for them as they seek to minister the Gospel in France.

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Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Sermon

Introduction

Ephesians 5:1–21 ESV

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 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. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

As we study this passage of Scripture, we’re going to take it in three parts. (1) Vs. 1-8a will introduce the whole passage and the main point be driven throughout the passage as well as give us the first example of how to accomplish the main point—we are to be imitators of God and walk in love rather than sin. (2) Vs. 8b-14, gives us the second example of how to accomplish the main point, we are to be imitators of God and walk in light rather than darkness. And (3) Vs. 15-21, ends off this section by exhorting us to be imitators of God by walking in wisdom rather than folly. I think the main premise is clear—that we are to imitate God—and throughout this passage, Paul gives us insight into how exactly we are to do this.

Prayer for Illumination

The passage starts with a rather simple instruction, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”

This is the statement that the rest of the passage rests on because this is the primary application that Paul is making in this passage.

The “therefore” reminds us that what Paul is about to say is a necessary repercussion of the doctrinal statements that Paul wrote in Ephesians 1-3—the guarantee of our inheritance through the Holy Spirit, the grace that we receive through faith, and being made one universal church in Christ Jesus through the mystery of the Gospel.

Because of those doctrinal statement, we are to be imitators of God.

What exactly does it mean to be an imitator of God?

We have a modern-day colloquialism, that “imitation is the greatest form of flattery.” The idea in that colloquialism is that if someone is imitating you, it’s because they want to flatter you.

And we actually see this concept in corporate America, where an employee will try to be like their boss in order to win favor from their boss and maybe get a promotion. The issue with this idea is that flattery is defined as “excessive and insincere” with the purpose of “[furthering] one’s own interests.”

Our modern-day concept of imitation then is to imitate in a way that insincerely praises someone in order to advance our own interests.

I think you can see why that would be an issue concerning imitating the LORD—our imitation of the LORD should be sincere.

In fact, Paul goes on and says that we should be imitators of God, “as beloved children.”

This actually gives us a better idea of what the Bible means by imitating God—we are to imitate as beloved children.

Anyone with children or anyone who has spent any amount of time with children know that children tend to act like people that the care for or they love.

Children will tend to act like their parents because they spend considerable amounts of time with their parents and they care for their parents and love their parents.

And in reality, children tend to imitate their parents because they want to please their parents.

In a similar way, Paul says believers are to imitate God—because believers ought to spend considerable amounts of time with God and believers ought to care about their relationship with God and believers ought to love God.

In reality, believers should imitate God because they want to please God.

So, as beloved children, believers are to imitate God, and then Paul gives us three examples of how exactly believers are to imitate God and it has to do with the way believers walk. If you read closely in the passage, you find three phrases that concern “walking,” which Paul then expounds on. Believers imitate God by Vs. 2, “[walking] in love,” Vs. 8, “[walking] as children of light,” and Vs. 15, walking in wisdom; which is how we’re going to break up the passage as well.

Walk in Love rather than Sin (1-8a)

The first of three ways that a believer imitates God is by walking in love rather than sin. Vs. 2, tells us to “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Just like Jesus lived his life that showed his love for mankind we are to love those around us. Paul specifically utilizes Christ’s sacrificial atonement on the cross as his example of Christ’s love, but we can really utilize all of Jesus’ life as an example of his love for others:

Jesus’ life gives us several examples of how we are to live our lives.

How did Jesus treat those around him? He cared for the Samaritan Woman, he loved Lazarus and weeped when Lazarus died, and he showed genuine concern for the people.

In love, he also didn’t hesitate to call out sin and he confronted those who acted in a sinful way or intentionally did wrong during their lives. Not to condemn them but to call them to repentance.

In utilizing Jesus as his first example, he reminds us of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus through the second half of the verse, “as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

It is this act of Jesus dying on the cross that gives us the best example of what it means to walk in love. Think with me, John 15:12-13, Jesus says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

The love for mankind that Jesus shows as he’s led as a lamb to the cross, is the same type of love that Paul tells us to walk in.

And then Paul gives several examples of what walking in love looks like and what it doesn’t look like, through a list of sinful actions in contrast to how living in love ought to look. Vs. 3-4, “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”

Paul lists six sinful behaviors right off the bat and it’s of note that each of these sins focus on self-centered vices in conduct and speech and in each of these sins, they’re the opposite of what love would actually look like. Paul lists:

Sexual Immorality—this translates the Greek word porneia, which specifically refers to sexual acts that are morally objectionable, a lot of times in Scripture it points towards prostitution; but in our modern-day context it would also include pornography and what the Bible calls licentiousness or promiscuity. It would really include any sexual conduct outside of normal marital sexuality.

Impurity—and to just emphasize what he means in his condemnation, he also adds, “and all impurity,” which specifically points towards all sexual immorality considered dirty or impure.

Covetousness—which can also be translated as greediness or a form of selfishness. All three of these sinful behaviors are broad categories of sin that he utilizes to envelop multiple sinful behaviors before he specifically points towards sins concerning their manner of speech.

Vs. 4, “Let there be no Filthiness nor Foolish Talk nor Crude Joking, which are out of place.” And it doesn’t take much for us to realize what all he’s talking about when he speaks of this type of speech. Yes, this includes issues such as cursing or swearing, but this also includes what we sometimes refer to as “locker-room” talk—the dirty jokes, the crass language, or things that you wouldn’t talk about in front of your grandmother. Paul says that all of these types of filthiness, foolish talk, and crude joking are “out of place” amongst believers. Which means that for us to partake in this type of speech as a body of believers, should be unheard of.

Rather he tells them to replace filthiness, foolish talk, and crude joking with thanksgiving, which is something he regularly encourages believers to do.

Paul tells the believers in Thessalonica that “in every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Not only does Paul say that we should give thanks, he makes it clear that God’s will for us is to give thanks.

And in Ephesians 5, he essentially tells the believers in Ephesus to replace all of their previous filthy speech with thanksgiving; and to replace all of their foolish talk with thanksgiving; and to replace all of their crude joking with thanksgiving.”

And then Paul gives one more reason for rejecting these sinful behaviors: Vs. 5-8a, “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolator), 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.”

Those who actively practice sinful activities such as sexual immorality, impurity, or covetousness, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

To be clear, this isn’t speaking of someone who has repented from sins and believed in Jesus Christ and occasionally slips up in sin—this isn’t talking about a believer who occasionally struggles with sexual immorality, impurity, or covetousness; but then experiences conviction of sin and repents.

This is speaking of those who practice these sinful behaviors with no remorse or guilt. They have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God because they’ve elevated themselves and their sinful appetite as idols in place of the LORD.

These types of people practicing these sinful activities without remorse aren’t inheriting the kingdom of Christ and God because if they were truly saved individuals the Holy Spirit would be working within them to convict them of sin.

Paul warns that anyone who attempts to persuade them that living in sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness; or really for someone to attempt to convince someone to return back to any unrepentant sin is speaking with vain or empty words.

That what these people are doing, are speaking lies that are meant to deceive. Anyone who attempts to persuade you to return to sinful behavior should not only be ignored, but also rejected.

Because God’s wrath comes upon all who disobey.

Paul tells the Ephesians to walk in love and utilizes Jesus’ sacrificial atonement as an example of what it means to walk in love; and then he specifies what he means by giving them several examples of what it means to not walk in love while contrasting that with examples of what it means to walk in love. He then warns them not to participate with people who try to deceive them into walking in their sinful desires and then Paul transitions from talking about walking in love to talking about walking in light. Vs. 7-8a, “Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the world.”

Walk in Light rather than Darkness (8b-14)

Ephesians 5:8b–14 (ESV)

8bWalk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,

and arise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

Paul then tells us that the second of three ways that a believer imitates God is by walking in light rather than darkness, Vs. 8b-12, “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. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.”

Paul refers to this striking New Testament illustration of the difference between the old life and the new life in Christ Jesus.

This same illustration is utilized frequently in the Gospel according to John

in fact in 1 John 1:5, John writes, “This is the message we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood o Jesus cleanses us from all sin.”

And Paul is utilizing that same concept in Ephesians 5, that because God the light and we claim to follow God, we are to “walk as children of light.”

Paul explains in Vs. 9, in a parenthetical phrase, that the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true and then he encourages us to “try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.”

Or in other words, what Paul is saying is that those who are truly children of light would live in goodness, righteousness, and truth. These attributes, which by the way sound a lot like the fruits of the Spirit, should be demonstrated by those who claim to believe in Jesus Christ.

And by the way, these same attributes describe God himself, which makes complete sense if we are to imitate God, we should share in the same attributes of God.

If we are to imitate God through our living, we ought to show ourselves to be like the very attributes of God.

That phrase to “try to discern what is pleasing to the LORD” reflects the need of discernment in order to please God—it’s connection to the previous parenthetical phrase “for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true” tells us that living in goodness, righteousness, and truth is pleasing to the LORD.

This tells us that not everything that we might consider good, righteous, and truth are actually pleasing to the LORD. Rather, we need to determine what is good, righteous, and truth in the eyes of the LORD and seek to live in that manner.

Darrell Bock, “The idea of testing or ‘approving’ is common in the New Testament. People can discern the weather but are less able to be spiritually aware. The law helped the Jews determine God’s will. Believers are to test what God’s will is. . . What was pleasing in Judaism was tied to wisdom. Through embracing wisdom one sees what is pleasing to God. The transformation of the mind from our old instincts is pleasing to God as we determine his will. . . To be pleasing to God is a goal of the Christian walk. . . It takes discernment to live in goodness, righteousness and truth. It also takes discernment to live with a freedom that is responsible and not self-destructive, because not all freedom builds up.”

Paul tells the Ephesians in Vs. 11-12, to “take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.” Vs. 13-14, “But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’”

The idea here is that the sinful deeds done in darkness are shameful to even mention. This is specifically referring to activities when weighed morally is unacceptable to speak about and bring about dishonor.

Paul is referencing really any behavior that would go against what God calls good, righteous, and true; but he’s specifically referring to behaviors that aren’t good, righteous, and true that are done in secret for fear of what other people would think:

And I don’t think I really need to give several examples of what these secret sins would be because quite frankly, when I say, “sins that are done in secret so others can’t see,” I’m certain you already have several sins in mind.

These would be specific sins that even unbelievers hide because they don’t want other unbelievers to know that they commit these acts.

Truthfully, Paul’s statement here should then be common sense. If the unbelievers are worried about other unbelievers finding out that they partake in their secret sins, how could Christian believers think that it would be acceptable to partake in these secret sins?

If the unbelievers believe that these sins are morally reprehensible, then believers shouldn’t even come near those sins, but rather should work to expose them.

The idea of exposing something, has to do with shedding light on something, which is a phrase chosen by Paul due to his illustration of light being contrary to darkness.

Light, which we know is God himself, does the exposing of sinful behavior. With the exposure comes the opportunity for a change of direction or repentance.

In other words, what Paul is saying through all this, is that if those living in darkness consider certain sins to be morally reprehensible, then believers ought not even consider sinning in that manner.

Rather, believers should be so contrary to the darkness, that by being children of light, in the manner that they live, they ought to expose the sinful behaviors of those around them

Which will hopefully lead them to repentance from their own sin.

Paul supplies an explanation for this idea of children of light living so counter-culturally that their lives expose the sins of other people, and then he quotes this phrase in Vs. 14, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you,”

We’re not entirely certain where this phrase comes from, it isn’t exactly a quotation from Scripture and it’s not from any ancient writings that we have today.

Most scholars believe that this is a quote from an early first-century hymn that used to be sang by the early church.

Regardless of where the quotation itself is from, the idea is what Paul has already explained to us—that after salvation, the believer is to seek Jesus Christ, Jesus as the light of the world begins to reflect through the life of the believer, and those who live in darkness around the believer, should see the difference in the believer’s life and that difference should draw them to repent from their own sin.

So, Paul has told the Ephesians to walk in love like Jesus walked in love and gave himself as a substitutionary atonement for sin and then he tells the Ephesians to walk in light and utilizes the concept that God is light to show that believers ought to reflect the same light so that those who aren’t believers should see the truth through them and repent.

And in this last section, Paul encourages them to “look carefully” at how they live, so that they walk in wisdom rather than folly. Read with me Vs. 15-21.

Ephesians 5:15–21 ESV

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Walk in Wisdom not in Folly (15-21)

The third of three ways that a believer imitates God, according to Paul is by walking in wisdom rather than folly.

Vs. 15-17, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Be careful as you live, to walk in wisdom rather than folly and as he gives this final of three ways, he intersperses some other statements into the command as well. “Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” and “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

These are both ideas of what walking in wisdom includes, Paul states that walking in wisdom includes making the best use of time.

A lot of people utilize the Latin phrase carpe diem, “seize the day” as a license to really make foolish decisions or as an excuse to indulge in sinful behavior. Younger people might actually be more familiar with the phrase, “you only live once” again, with the idea that you should indulge in some sort of sinful behavior (whether that’s engaging in party culture, or drinking to excess, or various other behaviors).

Paul is making the argument that instead of living with this type of mindset, which he logically calls unwise, believers should live realizing that life is indeed short, so utilize it for good.

How exactly do we make the best use of time? The KJV utilizes the word redeem in place of “making the best use of,” which is actually accurate. That is what the Greek word itself means. The idea is to redeem the time.

Instead of wasting time—intentionally utilize the time that’s given for good. That’s part of how you live in wisdom.

In Vs 17-18, Paul describes in greater detail what it means to walk in wisdom. “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Walking in wisdom includes, not being foolish, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. So, the question is, how do we understand what the will of the Lord is?

In this direct context, Paul has already told us—Paul started Ephesians by giving us a doctrinal statement that concluded with the idea of a unified body of Christ in which every believer utilizes their spiritual gifts to mutually build up the church.

As Paul has sought to apply this doctrine, he’s expressed that each individual is to utilize their own spiritual gifts in love so that each part of God’s body, when it is equipped, can work together to make the body grow and build itself up in love.

He’s encouraged those who claim to believe to live like believers ought to live and reject the sinful desires of the former life and he’s sought to encourage believers to imitate God as beloved children.

In this context, what is the will of God?

It is for each individual believer to live their lives as a Christian ought to—in wisdom, in light, and in love. For each individual to continuously reject sinful behavior and continuously put on the new life

And by doing this, the believer seeks to be unified with other true believers in Jesus Christ and the believer seeks to help other believers to grow in order for the whole body to be built up.

So, that the universal church is unified with each member of the universal church contributing to the building up of the body. That is the will of God in Ephesians 5.

It is God’s will for you to be a believer who imitates God in wisdom, light, and love; who continuously rejects sin and puts on the new life. It is God’s will for you to utilize your spiritual gifts to build up others in the church and for there to be unity amongst those who truly believe in Jesus Christ.

Which sounds like a tremendous amount of effort and work because it really is. So, how is that even possible? Vs. 18, “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” How do we fulfill the will of God for us? By being filled with the Spirit and then Paul gives us four characteristics of what it looks like to be filled with the Spirit.

Those who are filled with the Spirit will, Vs. 19, “[address] one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs”—which simply put means that those who are filled with the Spirit will be unified as they praise God together.

Those who are filled with the Spirit will, again Vs. 19, “[will sing] and [make] melody in their hearts unto God.”

Those who are filled with the Spirit will, Vs. 20, “[give] thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”—This thanksgiving is clearly meant to be an always-occurring thankfulness, not based on circumstance, offered for all things.

And those who are filled with the Spirit will, Vs. 21, “[submit] to one another out of reverence for Christ.”—Douglas Mangum, “Those who are filled with the Spirit are not concerned for personal ambition or glory; rather, they are willing to humble themselves and submit to others. Furthermore, they are to be subject due to their understanding of Jesus, who demonstrated true love by giving his very life.”

Paul tells the Ephesians to imitate God like a child would imitate his parents and Paul has given three characteristics of what it looks like to imitate God—to walk in love, to walk in light, and to walk in wisdom. Now, there were significant application points interspersed throughout the text, but I would like to leave you with some specific application that you can walk away with as you also seek to imitate God through your life.

Application

The overarching application that Paul is driving home this evening is this, Because you are a believer, imitate God; and each of the three sections that we studied through gives us examples of how we are to imitate God: (1) imitate God by walking in love rather than sin; imitate God by walking in light rather than darkness; and imitate God by walking in wisdom not in folly. Let’s look at how we can seek to imitate God in these specific areas:

Walk in Love rather than Sin (1-8a)—In the first eight verses, Paul tells the Ephesians to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us and then he goes on to give several examples of sinful actions that are not loving towards those around us and then he encourages us to not be deceived by someone who attempts to convince you to indulge in these types of sins because God’s wrath is upon the disobedient. I want to draw out two applications from this section:

Look at the life of Jesus as an example of what it means to love those around you

The Bible teaches us that to sacrifice your own life for those around you is actually the greatest form of love, which is why Paul tells the Ephesians to look at Jesus’ sacrificial atonement as an example of how they should love one another.

To walk in love means that you’re willing to give of yourself to those around you and while many times, that’s not going to include giving your life for others, what it does include is being willing to sacrifice of yourself for the good of others.

This also would include living according to 1 Corinthians 13—if you love someone, you will be patient, you will be kind, you will not envy or boast, you won’t be arrogant towards them or rude. If you’re acting in love towards someone, you won’t insist on your own way, you won’t be intentionally irritable or resentful; you won’t celebrate if they suffer injustice or wrongdoing, but you’ll rejoice with the truth. If you’re acting in the same sort of love that Jesus has for us, you will “bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things.”

In our modern-day life, this would show up as midnight phone calls when someone is in distress, providing sustenance when someone needs help, or simply being there for someone when they need someone.

This would include going out of your way to visit someone, praying with them, and helping them to grow in their spiritual journey.

Jesus’ example of love on the cross shows us that walking in love involves self-sacrifice and selflessness and our lives should reflect this according to Ephesians 5.

Consider how you act and react towards others, if you’re being unloving in your actions—repent and seek to live in love like Jesus lived in love.

Every sin that Paul utilizes as examples in Vs. 3-8 are sins in which an individual either unlovingly commits against someone else or unlovingly speaks as a means to gratify their own sinful desire.

And quite frankly, part of what makes sin so appealing is because sin gratifies the old self.

Unfortunately, many times when we sin, we often harm other people either on purpose or by accident.

Consider your actions and reactions, if you’re acting in a way that your sin hurts others—repent, seek reconciliation if possible, and learn to live in love like Jesus lived in love.

Walk in Light rather than Darkness (8b-14)—In the middle section, Paul tells the Ephesians to walk in the light and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord—live in the fruit of light, what is good and right and true. In addition, he exhorts them not to take part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them in hopes that those exposed works of darkness, transform into light. I have two applications from this section:

Be mindful of whether your seeking to do what’s pleasing to the LORD or what’s pleasing to your sinful desire.

Sin is deceitful and will trick you into thinking that you ought to continue in sin for gratification—who’s going to know, it’s just a little bit, it won’t hurt anyone.

The issue is that it doesn’t matter if someone else knows—God knows. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a little bit of sin—any sin makes you guilty of all sin. It doesn’t matter if it won’t hurt anyone—sin is sin regardless of it it hurt someone else.

What matters is doing what God wants you to do or doing what’s pleasing to the LORD.

In this context, what pleases the LORD is for you to:

Imitate God—walk in love, walk in light, and walk in wisdom

Seek to utilize your spiritual gifts for the growth of God’s church

And to be unified when doctrine is true.

So in this context, you should do everything you can to please the LORD by:

imitating God

utilizing your spiritual gifts

and seeking unity in the true church of God.

Rather than seeking your own pleasure through the gratification of your sinful desire.

Which will ultimately lead you to fulfill the second application point— to live in a way that unbelievers want the experience the same light that you’ve experienced

Walk in Wisdom not in Folly (15-21)—And in the final section, Paul tells the Ephesians to be careful to walk in wisdom rather than folly, with two primary examples of what this looks like: (1) by making the best use of the time and (2) by being filled with the Holy Spirit. The application for this final section is simple:

Be sure to utilize every minute that you have the best way that you can

Don’t utilize the brevity of life as a license for sin. Life is definitely short, so utilize it the best way that you can. In conjunction with everything that Paul is speaking of Ephesians 5, that means that the best thing that you can do with your short life, is to be an imitator of God

And to be constantly filled by the Holy Spirit, which brings me to my final application point:

Be sure that you are constantly being filled by the Spirit—how do we do that? The best way that I can answer that question with such a short amount of time is by quoting someone else’s response to the same question. “

Got Questions, “We should be so completely yielded to the Holy Spirit that he can possess us fully and, in that sense, fill us. Romans 8:9 and Ephesians 1:13-14 states that he dwells within every believer, but he can be grieved, and his activity within us can be quenched. When we allow this to happen, we do not experience the fullness of the Spirit’s working and his power in and through us. To be filled with the Spirit implies freedom for him to occupy every part of our lives, guiding and controlling us. . . Sin is what hinders the filling of the Holy Spirit, and obedience to God is how the filling of the Holy Spirit is maintained.”

Or in other words, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we are to (1) yield or subject ourselves to the Holy Spirit, (2) remove sin in our lives so that we don’t grieve the Spirit or quench the Spirit, and (3) be obedient to God.

Put simply, Ephesians 5:1-21 teaches us to imitate God in our lives by (1) making sure that we’re behaving in a loving way and repenting when we act in an unloving way, (2) seeking to do what pleases the LORD, which will encourage unbelievers to want to experience the same light that you have, and (3) learn to walk in wisdom by being constantly filled by the Holy Spirit.

If you believe in Jesus Christ, you are to imitate God by walking in love, walking in light, and walking in wisdom.