Intro to Ephesians Five

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/18/2019 10:00 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  Intro to Ephesians Five

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 5

 

            Message of the verses:  In his commentary on the book of Ephesians Dr. Warren Wiersbe entitles the tenth chapter “Imitating Our Father” and this covers Ephesians 5:1-17 and I would like to begin this SD by quoting what he has to say in his introductory comments on these verses and then we will look at the very short paragraph that John MacArthur has to say in his commentary. 

 

“The word ‘followers’ in Ephesians 5:1 is the word mimics, so that the verse can be translated:  ‘Be ye imitators of God as beloved children.’  This sets the theme for the section.  Paul is simply arguing that children are to like their parents, a fact that can be both encouraging and embarrassing to those of us who have children. Have you ever seen a child sitting in the front seat of an automobile, trying to drive like his father!  Or walking behind him, pretending to mow the lawn?  Or, sad to say, imitating Dad smoking a cigarette or taking a drink of alcohol?  Children probably learn more by watching and imitation than any other way.

 

We are the children of God, then we ought to imitate our Father.  This is the basis for the three admonitions in this section.  God is love (1 John 4:8); therefore, ‘walk in love’ (Eph. 5:1-2).  God is light (1 John 1:5); therefore, walk as children of light (Eph. 1:3-14).  God is truth (1 John 5:6); therefore, walk in wisdom (Eph. 5:15-17).  Of course, each of these ‘walks’ is a part of Paul’s exhortation to walk in purity.’”

 

            Now as mentioned many times we will be following the outline that John MacArthur has written in his commentary as we study the book of Ephesians, but from time to time I will put some things in these SD’s that come from the pen of Warren Wiersbe who as you know went to be with the Lord earlier this month, and I for one will miss Dr. Wiersbe and look forward to seeing him when the Lord takes me to heaven. 

 

            John MacArthur entitles his 15^th chapter of his commentary on the book of Ephesians “Walking in Love” as he only covers the first seven verses of chapter five which we will now look at and then quote his very short introduction to these verses: 

 

“1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. 3 But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; 4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an 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.”

 

John MacArthur writes “In this passage Paul first presents the positive truths about true godly love and then the negative truths about Satan’s counterfeit love and its consequences.”

 

            It is my desire to begin to look at the first section entitled “The Plea” from Ephesians 5:1-2a in our next SD, something that will probably take a few days to talk about.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Thinking about God’s love is something that from time to time I seem to forget or perhaps not understand the great love that He has for me even though I know for certain that God does love me very much as evidenced by the fact of Him sending His Son to pay for my sins and then giving me an effectual call to salvation a little over 45 years ago.  I suppose that the times when I have some trouble understanding God’s love is when I sin and then perhaps want to bring God down to the level of a human being and then think about if I did something wrong that I would have to be punished for it.  As I go through this section perhaps the Lord will use it to help me better understand more about His great love He has for me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have been thinking about humility a lot this year as has been mentioned many times and one of the things that I am learning is that humility has to do with a lot of things that I have been studying in this book of Ephesians, and I suppose that humility and love, the love that God has for me will help me to grow more in humility.

 

The verse that goes along with yesterday’s quotation is from 2 Chronicles 32:7a-8b:  “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed…But with us is the Lord our God, to Help us and to fight our battles.”

 

5/18/2019 10:55 AM