But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.
Ephesians 5:3-7
These are not the easiest verses to blog about, and doing so never makes the blogger all that popular, but when you go through an entire book, you have to address the not so fun parts along with the fun and easy ones…
Here, why don’t I just say this at the outset…?
Take a look at these verses again; see the things that Paul is telling us not to do? What is the common thread between all of them?
Exactly, good work!
They are all self-centered. The things Paul tells us we should do are all outwardly focused. Yes dear reader, that is how these verses fit into the larger context here… and Paul’s theme continues on to the next batch of verses that we’ll look at next time.
That is the most important part about this short text, it is the Main lesson here, and now that I have done my teaching duty, I have a couple of observations of a slightly more “advanced” nature that may not be for the faint of heart.
In verse 3, Paul refers to “sexual immorality” and greed. These are the most obviously self-centered things he mentions here… and oddly in today’s world they are the most controversial. We live in a time when we can’t, as a culture, define sexual immorality, because the word “immorality” implies that there is a standard of conduct beyond the statutes adopted by the government. Nobody would have been concerned with that before the 20th century, and “morality” was even a highly prized virtue in our culture, but sadly, that time has passed, and now we seem to think, as a society, that anything that is legal in a court of law is just fine, but that is a bald-faced lie! Human governments decide what they will permit, but they cannot over rule Almighty God. If you are tempted to argue with me on this point, just remember that the Nazi Holocaust was all perfectly legal, as were most of the outrages of history.
Yet Paul’s point here is not based upon a legal issue, for the larger danger to the believer in things like immorality and greed comes from the fact that these impulses, unchecked, are very strong indeed, and can pull a man or woman completely away from their relationship with Christ. In fact, a person falling into this kind of trap can be pulled so far away from His loving arms that they may not be able to return, assuring their destruction…
In verse 4, Paul tells us that obscenity, foolish talk and coarse joking are “out of place” and I think many will also understand this in a legal sense. It is important that we all recognize that sin and its consequence isn’t the point, for remember that Paul is writing to Christians whose sins are forgiven. Please don’t tell me that if we tell and off-color joke every now and then, we are going straight to hell; that isn’t true. However, the way we talk reveals a great deal about the way we think, for if we speak in a sloppy and undisciplined way, the chance are that our thinking is sloppy and undisciplined as well, and thus if we are in the habit of speaking in a way that is far from reflecting our relationship with Christ, then the chances are very good that we do not have a healthy relationship with Him. Now obviously I’m not saying that we can engage in pious talk and fool God into thinking we are pious; we probably won’t fool anyone around us either, by the way, thus there is no faking with our speech either way. Paul is trying to teach us that if our talk is “out of place” our thinking probably is as well, and we are on a slippery slope with our faith.
We need to be more focused on our relationship with Jesus Christ; all of us! Can we just change our thinking and living entirely on own power? Maybe, maybe not. If we are waiting for the Holy Spirit to jump into the fray and zap us with perfection however, we’ll be waiting for a very long time, because that isn’t how it works. You see, the Holy Spirit is waiting for us to make the first step. He has given us the instruction to make an effort; you’ve just read it at the top of this post!
We make the effort, we make a commitment and seek His strength and His presence and He sustains us through the process; that’s how it works.
Life Project Blog 
I think the only way to overcome bad habits is to not think about them. If we’re always saying, “I’ve got to get control of that,” we won’t. The only way to overcome is with a substitute. We must find something good that is so interesting to us that we do not have time, energy, or desire to even think about to the old bad habits (sins).
Simple but effective!
~Amen :Y
Two points – first the comment about overcoming something through substitution – as a counsellor and mentor substitution only creates another level of dependency and does nothing to improve self esteem. The critical way to overcome bad habits and poor conduct is linked to developing our relationship with God.
Living with a healthy fear of damaging our relationship with God creates the basic reason for change and commitment to change.
Substitution creates a crutch not the solution.
Tools to achieve the desired end result can be activities, meditation or something like that but essentially we return to needing the motivation for change to be our relationships with others.
Second point – it is challenging to discuss morality because today there is a warped sense of what is acceptable, the bible standards are viewed as old fashioned and out of date with society but remember these standards were not set by society but by God. Those of us who call ourselves Christian must aspire to maintain these standards – we volunteer to so, we are not forced.
Therefore when we choose to ignore this and engage in immoral activities we are placing our own view ahead of God’s therefore we commit the same form of idolatry that Adam and Eve indulged in.
It is hard for people to accept but immoral conduct will separate us from God if we do not repent and leave that course. The love god expresses is that we have the channel for repentance and forgiveness of sins – as this chapter started with.
Again thought provoking post.
Thank you, I was hoping it would provoke some thought.
As to your first point, I agree with you, and I’d add that at least in my own case and experience, overcoming something can be achieved if I commit to it. Of course that’s often easier to say than to do, but I have found that to be true for me. And this leads right into the second point, immorality. Like everyone else, i have been confronted with the opportunity to engage in a variety of immoral activities. You know what? If I decide to do it, I do it. If I decide not to, I don’t. Nobody ever forced me one way or the other, and lucky for me, I have most often made the more beneficial choice to abstain, and when I didn’t, I always came to learn a lesson in the consequences of my own dumb choices, making the right decision easier to arrive at the next time.
I will never say that we can always avoid error or always be so strong as to achieve Christlikeness on our own strength, but I think sometimes we exaggerate our weaknesses. Does that make any sense?
Immorality, greed, coarse joking, gossip, argumentativenss, etc… become improper for us once we have died to self. The desire to turn away from these behaviors arise in us when we fall in love with God, and when we choose to abide in the Spirit. Yet, we’re imperfect human beings.
I agree with you, Don; laws don’t change anyone’s behavior. Neither does fear. Loving God creates a desire to please Him. Abiding in the Spirit creates a desire to pray for guidance.
I do disagree with one thing you said; that someone could be pulled away so far from Christ they may not be able to return. I don’t think anyone, until the day Christ returns, can ever be without hope of returning to Christ. Isn’t God’s ultimate mission is to redeem all of creation to himself?
yes, that’s His ultimate goal; no doubt about it, yet He leaves us with free will. Maybe the question should be something like this: Can we turn away from Him, get into really powerful and bad stuff that we know we shouldn’t mess with… and then expect Him to intervene again to pull us back and save us from ourselves? I might be wrong of course, but that strikes me as almost putting God “to the test.”
Yes, I see your point, although I have to believe that if I ever went so far down the road then came to my senses and came running back, He would run to greet me with compassion and open arms. That’s my prayer, anyway.
Oh Susan, I agree completely; you’d be the ‘prodigal daughter’ and He’d a party. It’s just that beyond a certain point in certain areas, not many come back.