Latest / Bayside Davis Podcast / Ephesians 5:1-7 | The Way of Love

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Ephesians 5:1-7 | The Way of Love · Bayside Davis Podcast

0:05
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the basic news podcast.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: Listening to the teaching series and features.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: What is love?
4:39
SPEAKER_00: It's a great question.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: And really, it's a hard question, a difficult question to answer, because we live in a culture that has defined love in many different ways.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: Some of us have learned love as transactional.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: That we love others as long as they do certain things for us.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: We'll respond in love if you do XYZ.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: Others of us have learned love as not mutual.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: One person gives everything they have emotionally, relationally, spiritually, fully invested, while another person only is partially invested.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Others have learned love as sexual.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: Just watch most streaming shows, most reality shows.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: So much of the love that is expressed is sexual in nature.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: And so we've learned, we've been cultivated around love being a sexual experience as the ultimate definition or experience of love.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: To really define this question, you can't look at the current cultural habits or practices or ideologies or narratives.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: To really define this question, you have to look at the very nature of God Himself.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Love is best defined by understanding who God is and how God loves.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: That's how we as followers of Jesus define love.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: And in this passage, Paul defines what love is and what love is not.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: There's two ways that Paul, the writer of this book, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God in the first century, there's two ways in which he describes love.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: And notice both of these ways.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: First of all, verses one and two of Ephesians chapter five, the way of love.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: He first frames it in a positive way.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: He gives a positive encouragement of positive exhortation.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: He says, beginning in verse one, Christ.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: Just as in Christ God forgave you.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: Then verse one, follow God's example, therefore.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: We'll stop there.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: The conjunction, therefore, should actually go first.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: It's first in the original language sentence.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: It's an inferential conjunction for you grammar geeks like me, any grammar nerds in here?
7:23
SPEAKER_00: Just me.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: And he's drawing a summary, a conclusion based on verse 32, where he said, Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as Christ.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: Christ God forgave you.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, Therefore, because of how God has treated you, I want you to follow this same example in your life.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: I want you to be an imitator of God, verse one, and an imitator of Jesus, verse two.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: We imitate God and we imitate Jesus in how God treats us, how Jesus exemplified the reality of God in relationship to us as imperfect people.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: We are followers of Jesus, followers of God.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: You know how you have little kids, and when you have little kids, they watch your every move, and you begin to look at your kids and you realize, oh my goodness, they're really observing me because they begin to imitate you.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: There's this famous story in my family.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: My grandfather was not a follower of Jesus.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: And every time he drove, he had a problem with anger driving.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: Anybody have a problem with anger when you drive?
8:49
SPEAKER_00: Every time he drove, I was a little kid and I started hearing this story when I was just a little kid.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: Every time he drove with my mom and her sister in the car, we'd cuss out the people driving.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: And my mom, a little kid and her sister, they would always ask, how come when we drive with dad, all these people are bleep, bleep, bleep?
9:15
SPEAKER_00: They had no idea what they were saying.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: They were just imitating their father.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: And kids do that.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Kids watch you and they begin to imitate you and reflect you and they resemble your habits and your words and so on and so forth.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: And what God is saying to us, as a child imitates their parents, we imitate God.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: Later on in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 1, Paul said to the Corinthian church, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: Follow me as I follow Jesus.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: So we're to imitate God in what way?
9:58
SPEAKER_00: Verse 2, and walk in love just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: Connecting verse 1 and verse 2 saying, here's the goal.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: Here's the goal of your imitation of God, and verse 2, your imitation of Christ.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: You are to imitate God and imitate Christ in what way?
10:24
SPEAKER_00: In love.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: By walking in love as a reflection of how God or Jesus has loved you.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: This is the third time we've seen this verb walk.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: And it's an interesting word because it's talking about a lifestyle.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, when you go on a walk with a friend or your little doggy, my little doggy Lucy, five-pound Cheweeney.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: When you go on a walk with your dog, you're heading step by step in a direction to a destination.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: And it's an enjoyable thing.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: And it becomes a lifestyle for you walkers.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: How many of you are walkers like five to seven days a week?
11:05
SPEAKER_00: You get out and walk.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: Are we just unhealthy here?
11:09
SPEAKER_00: How many of you are runners?
11:11
SPEAKER_00: Anyone running in here?
11:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay, a lot of runners, more than walkers, but it's an enjoyable thing.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: You're going somewhere, you're on a destination.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: It becomes a lifestyle and a habit.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: And that's the way of love for followers of Jesus.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: God is saying we imitate him and we live our lives with a goal to love others like Jesus loves us.
11:35
SPEAKER_00: That's the greatest expression of a follower of Jesus when people can look at our life and they might not even know it, but in our orientation relation toward other people, we're reflecting how God treats us.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: This is our goal.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: This is the greatest practice of the Christian life.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: But what does love mean, and what does love look like?
12:04
SPEAKER_00: In the Old Testament, the primary term for love is kesed.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: And it's a Hebrew term that's used all over the Old Testament, and it means faithful love or loyal love.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: That's the way that God expressed his love in the Old Testament.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: In the New Testament, the term that is the greatest summation or the most used term for love is agape, and a lot of Christians know that word, but I don't think a lot of Christians understand that word in its full layered essence, and that's what I want you to understand today.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: A great writer of previous generations, Thomas A.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: Kempis, wrote: Nothing is sweeter than love.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: Nothing stronger, nothing higher, nothing wider, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller, nothing better in heaven or earth than love.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: Any type of love.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: Love of God.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: Greatest picture, the greatest conception, the greatest definition of love is the love of God.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's other forms of love mentioned in the Bible.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: There's friendship love, there's romantic love, there's parental love, but we're focusing on the love of God as the greatest definition, leading us into a lifestyle or practice of how to love other people.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: And here's the problem with love, though, in the Bible.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: It is a multi-layered reality.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes in church, they'll give you one simple definition of love, but I've found that it doesn't quite express the conceptual idea and weight of love.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: Simple definitions.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Any of you like onions?
13:56
SPEAKER_00: I like red onions because they have a lot of like great nutritional benefits.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: Anybody like onions in here?
14:03
SPEAKER_00: We have lots of you got white onions, yellow onions, red onions, all the onions.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're an onion church.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you've ever peeled back an onion layer by layer, you realize that an onion has many layers.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: Many layers.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: Love, in a biblical sense, has many layers as well.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: I want you to listen to this verse.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 13, verses 34 and 35.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: A new command I give you, Jesus says, love one another.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples would have thought, this isn't new, Jesus.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Then he expresses the new idea.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: As I have loved you, so you must also love one another.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: By this, how you love people the way I love you, by this, everyone will know that you are my disciples.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: If, conditional, you love one another.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: The greatest expression, to understand the multi-layered reality of love as expressed in the life of Jesus and the nature of God, and therefore can be oriented in expression to other people as followers of Jesus.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: So let me define, to my best of my ability, this word love in the Bible.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
15:33
SPEAKER_00: Write this definition down.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: First of all, I got a couple definitions for you.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: First of all, love is an attitude, a choice, and feels emotions.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: Love is an attitude, it's a constant reality in our life that we express to people.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: And it's a decision that we make every single day.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: It feels emotions.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: I think the emotional part has been distorted because we think, though, when we feel something for somebody that that's a love.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, no, it's lust, sometimes it's unhealthy attachment.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: It has to be a feeling aligned with the correct nature of love as defined and expressed by God.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: So when it comes to love, you can have the right emotions or you can have the wrong emotions.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: You can have healthy emotions that attach you to another person, and you can have unhealthy emotions that attach you to another person.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want to caution you around: don't make your definition of love emotions.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: Emotions will follow either right or wrong definitions of love.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: But then we can't throw out emotions because the correct idea of love, the correct attachment of love, definitely feels feelings or emotions.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: You could say another way, love is viewing people as having great worth in God's eyes.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: Or I think the greatest definition, love is seeking the highest good of another person.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: It's not transactional and it's not unmutual.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: It is one person saying, My goal is to be in relationship with you and bless your life and point you to the highest good by my actions.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: Or you could say, I love this one, love is choosing to regard others as God in Christ regards us.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: Think about every relationship of your life.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: If you're like, hey, you're on my team, I want to regard you with your value and how I treat you as God regards and treats me.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you're on my staff and I lead and manage you.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: I want to value you and treat you as God in Christ treats me.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: So on and so forth.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: That is the basis of love.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: And the central defining reality of love in Scripture is the cross of Jesus Christ.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: That's why he says here, notice verse 2.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: He says, walk in love just as your model, Christ loved us.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: And then he says three things about the love of Christ.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: First, he gave himself up for us.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: Second, he was a fragrant offering, and third, he was a sacrifice to God.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, Wesley, what does all that mean?
18:34
SPEAKER_00: This is a description of what Jesus did on the cross that pictures love.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: First, he was a willing, substitutionary sacrifice.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: You're like, that's a lot to say.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: But this is very, very good to understand.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: He gave himself up for us.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was a willing agent in sacrificing his life to take on the penalty for our sin so that he could freely offer us his grace and righteousness.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: He was a willing agent.
19:13
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't unwilling to sacrifice his life for us that he would take our worst so he could give us his best.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes when we're in a relationship of what we call love, we have to ask ourselves: are we willing agents in loving others for their good?
19:33
SPEAKER_00: There has to be agency.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: There has to be a willingness, there has to be a decision made on one person's part toward another person.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: Second, an offering.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: The idea here is a fragrant offering.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: This word was used of offerings brought to the altar of God in the Old Testament.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: And what Paul is trying to say with Old Testament verbiage and picture and idea is that Jesus was a fragrant or sweet-smelling offering to God, meaning his sacrifice on the cross was acceptable and pleasing to God to save and redeem us in love.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: He did all of that in love, and that God looked at that and he said, This sacrifice is worthy and acceptable to save a bunch of flawed, broken, imperfect people like me and you.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: I relate to people is sacrificial in nature, done out of a spirit of love for the benefit of others.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: Let me help to break this down.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: I think when you think about the characteristics of Jesus' love on the cross and how we can mirror those in our everyday life, I think about seven things that are expressed here in this verse two, really a half a verse.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: Seven things that we can do in our everyday life that mirror the greatest, most defining act of love in human history, the cross of Jesus Christ.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
22:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go quick.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: So get those pens out, get those pencils out, get those fingers typing on your Apple notes or whatever you use, your Android notes, your Google notes, whatever you use.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: Number one, selfless.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: The love of Jesus Christ on the cross was selfless.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: There was not a selfish act on the cross.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: The fact that the Son of God, who was perfect, sinless, the creator of all things.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 1, 1, Colossians chapter 1, Jesus would go to the cross and sacrifice his life was the greatest, most selfless act in human history.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: So our love toward other people needs to be selfless.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: Second, sacrificial.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: Are we doing anything sacrificial for the good of other people?
23:41
SPEAKER_00: Or is our love only benefiting us?
23:47
SPEAKER_00: We're only willing to sacrifice for the benefit of ourself.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: And if that's the case in my life, that's the case in your life, it's not love.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: It's not how God's nature works or how God loved us, most expressed in the cross of Christ.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: Third, self-giving.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: It gives, it gives, it gives.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: Now you might say, well, what happens if I'm giving, giving, giving, and the other person is just taking, taking, taking, not reciprocating what I'm giving?
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a whole different conversation.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: You do your part, and then you properly assess your relationships in your life to see if they're healthier relationships.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: You might have some unhealthy attachments in your life.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: Now, some of them you can't just hit the eject button.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: You might not, you might need to have an honest conversation, a healthy conversation.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: You might need to have a little bit of uncomfortableness in expressing your needs.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: But there should be a reciprocation.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: However, you don't love that person by giving to them in generosity of spirit and life only if they love you.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: You do your part.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: You can only control what you can control.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: You can't control other people.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: And every person in human history that's been in a relationship knows that's a fact.
25:17
SPEAKER_00: That you can only control your decisions and habits and orientations.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: You cannot control the other person.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: Fourth, it's grace-oriented, it's not merit-based.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: It's not I deserve this.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: It's we're both imperfect, and I'm gonna choose to offer you grace every single day.
25:45
SPEAKER_00: This is the glue to healthy, life-giving relationships as followers of Jesus.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: In grace, there's not revenge or bitterness or unforgiveness.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: There's a constant outpouring of you don't deserve this always, sometimes you do, sometimes you don't, you haven't earned this always, but I'm gonna give you my best in a spirit of grace because that's how God treats me.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: There's never a day that I wake up in the morning.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: There's never a day that you wake up in the morning and you talk to God, that God does not express his grace in your life.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: There's never a day I wake up and I'm like, oh Lord, be with me, fill me with your spirit, lead me, guide me, use me, and God's like, no, you don't deserve it.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: Every day God says, I know you're imperfect, Wesley.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: I know you're broken, I know you're a work in progress, but every day God offers me his grace to continue.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: And he does the same for you.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: And so this is how we treat other people.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: Number five, it is not forced.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: It is not forced.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: That's why God put a tree in the garden of Eden, of good and evil, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because this was a boundary with an opportunity to choose what God said not to do.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: Love is never forced.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: You don't go on a first date with somebody and say, you have to date me and marry me.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: Or else, dot dot dot.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: Listen.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: Girls, if a dude comes off real strong on that first date, leave that first date, and as you say in your culture, ghost them.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: Don't text them back.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: Actually, just, you know, whatever you do on the iPhone where you they don't, you can't get their text, what's that called?
27:59
SPEAKER_00: Block their number.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: If anybody says, hey, you must date me, this is the will of God.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: Be like, no, I don't.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: And I'm running, because this is not, this is not a choice, this is force.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: Don't let anybody convince you what God has not told you.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
28:26
SPEAKER_00: Because love is never forced.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: You can't force.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: Listen, this is why Romans chapter 12 says, if at all possible, sometimes you can love somebody and they won't love you back.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: And that's the reality of life on earth.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: You do your part, that's the only thing you can control, but never.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: Love in its proper essence is never, ever forced.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: Number six, it is generous.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: It is always generous.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: And then number seven, because I need to pick up the pace, we're only through two verses.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: Love is working toward others' good.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: This is such a disorientation in our culture because we're so used to all of our relationships working toward our good.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: We have to flip the narrative.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: We have to change the culture.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: We have to think differently because love is not everybody working toward my good.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: Love is waking up, seeing the dishes dirty, and doing it yourself for the good of your roommates.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: Love is seeing all the mess, Dad, when you come home in the house and not saying, mom's gonna clean it, mom's more organized.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: No, you get on your hands and knees, you pick up the mess, you organize, you help for the good of the people around you.
30:09
SPEAKER_00: That's an everyday choice.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: And you have to change your mindset because the mindset as a follower of Jesus is every day I go into my relationships.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: Now you're not gonna do this perfectly, or should you be in heaven, but every day I'm gonna go into my relationships and I'm gonna look at the people around me and I'm gonna say, what can I do that you would flourish?
30:30
SPEAKER_00: What could I do to support you and to help you and to cause you to flourish as a human and follower of Jesus?
30:39
SPEAKER_00: That is the greatest picture, multi-layered picture of the character of God and the characteristics of Jesus' love on the cross that I can think of in my imperfect knowledge that we can reflect in our relationships.
30:56
SPEAKER_00: Now, notice he doesn't just give the way of love the positive side, but he gives the opposite of love the negative side.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: If the first was what love is, the latter is what love is not.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: Notice verse 3, and we got to pick up the pace.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: And everybody said, Amen.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: But he's contrasting.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: He's making a shift from self-sacrificial love to self-indulgent, self-centered behavior.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: And he's gonna list six lifestyle or behavior acts that are the antithesis of love.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: These are actions and decisions that are not genuine Christ-like love.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: You can categorize these as sexual sins and sins of speech.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: Now, before I get into these, because I know when we're gonna talk about all six of these, all of us are gonna feel convicted in one way or the other, and I just want to encourage you: let these aspects of what love is not, let these convictions in our heart turn to transformation, not condemnation.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: God never expresses things not to do that you are doing so that you feel condemned.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: God expresses things in honesty and reality because he cares about you and he knows maybe what you are doing is not good for you.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want to condemn you, he wants to transform you.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: So our heart posture should be God, any conviction right now in my life of what I'm doing that is contrary to the antithesis of love, I want you to change me from the inside out and give me your grace for my failures, and give me your grace along the way as I make these changes, because I'm gonna need it.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: And that's okay, that's normal, that's human.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: We're all in that category.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: Notice these six things.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read them and one by one we'll go through them.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: But among you there must be not even a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: Nor shall there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's go quick.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: Number one, sexual immorality, pornaya, which we get our English word pornography, but that's not the idea of the term, although it's related in the category.
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SPEAKER_00: This term is the catch-all New Testament term for any sexual experience outside of God's design.
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SPEAKER_00: So it's a broad category.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what 1 Thessalonians 4, 3 through 5 says it is God's will that you should be sanctified, set apart, different, that you should avoid sexual immorality, that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, the people that don't know God.
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SPEAKER_00: This is God's will for you.
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SPEAKER_00: Sexual immorality is not an expression of love, it's the opposite.
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SPEAKER_00: Second, impurity.
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SPEAKER_00: This term means moral uncleanness.
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SPEAKER_00: It's a general term for immoral contact, moral, immoral conduct, pardon me, moral behavior unacceptable to God.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what 1 Thessalonians 4.7 says.
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SPEAKER_00: For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.
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SPEAKER_00: Don't think of holiness as like, oh, you know, I gotta live my life perfectly.
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SPEAKER_00: Think of holiness as going back to God's original design for your flourishing.
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SPEAKER_00: You have to answer this question in your life.
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SPEAKER_00: I have to answer this question in my life.
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SPEAKER_00: Does God really know best for my good and my flourishing?
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SPEAKER_00: Is my conception of how I am designed and what I want different than God's?
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SPEAKER_00: Am I at war with God's design?
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SPEAKER_00: God would say, I know what is best for your life.
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SPEAKER_00: Trust that.
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SPEAKER_00: Number three, greed.
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SPEAKER_00: This has the idea of covetousness, a strong desire to acquire more and more possessions or to possess more things than other people, all irrespective of your need.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus said, and he said to them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses.
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SPEAKER_00: More God.
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SPEAKER_00: I want more and more and more and more and more.
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SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, this becomes a posture of your heart.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what one writer says: desire takes the place of God.
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SPEAKER_00: For it rather than he determines life.
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SPEAKER_00: Some of us we want possessions and we want more and more and more, and there's no generosity in our heart.
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SPEAKER_00: We're greedy, and that is not how we love people.
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SPEAKER_00: Fourth, obscenity.
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SPEAKER_00: This is disgraceful behavior, acting in defiance of social or moral standards, to act in a way that is shameful.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what the writer of Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 4 2 says rather we have renounced secret and shameful ways.
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SPEAKER_00: We do not use deception nor do we distort the word of God.
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SPEAKER_00: On the contrary, by setting forth, by setting forth the truth plainly, we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
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SPEAKER_00: God, what are the ways that we are living that aren't right, that are outside of your moral boundaries, that are good for our flourishing God?
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SPEAKER_00: Help us to understand those things and to be transformed.
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SPEAKER_00: Fifth, foolish talk, useless speech, offensive speech toward other people.
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SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 4.29 says, Do not let unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up others according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
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SPEAKER_00: Again, in the New Testament, this idea is in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 23 through 25.
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SPEAKER_00: Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments.
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SPEAKER_00: There's some Christians who are like really passionate about theology and God who want to go around arguing with people and God would be that that's pretty stupid and foolish.
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SPEAKER_00: Do you think anybody turns to Christ because you know everything and they don't, and you just want to argue with them?
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SPEAKER_00: Because you have all the theology down right, usually these are young men.
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SPEAKER_00: I trust me, in my experience, young men that are new to really following the Lord, and they're dogmatic and passionate, but they're not wise in how they channel their passions.
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SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm not saying anything negative to young men, but I've been investing in you know young people for a long, long time, 18 years as a lead pastor, so I've seen this pattern, and God's like, don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, just walk away.
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SPEAKER_00: Because you know they produce corals.
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SPEAKER_00: And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
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SPEAKER_00: Foolishness.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna argue with you.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell you everything that I'm right and you're wrong.
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SPEAKER_00: And God's like, that's just dumb.
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SPEAKER_00: Because that's that's not how the Lord's servant should conversate.
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SPEAKER_00: The Lord's servant should conversate with kindness, able to teach and offer explanation when explanation has an opening in a relationship.
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SPEAKER_00: And then finally, number six, coarse joking.
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SPEAKER_00: Coarse joking, vulgar speech, speech that is indecent in content, speech turned, sometimes in a joking manner, to have an indecent intent.
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SPEAKER_00: Obviously, this is like a double entendre where you say something and it's often sexual in nature, and you know you're you're joking, and that's the content of your joking.
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SPEAKER_00: Again, do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths.
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SPEAKER_00: This isn't me saying this, this is God.
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SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says.
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SPEAKER_00: Check this out.
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SPEAKER_00: But rather thanksgiving, verse 4.
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SPEAKER_00: Instead of foolish talk and coarse joking, followers of Jesus' conversations should be filled with thanksgiving toward God and thanksgiving toward one another.
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SPEAKER_00: What if our conversations were like, oh my goodness, I want to encourage you, I want to have gratitude for you, I want to have gratitude for God.
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SPEAKER_00: This should be the sphere, the feeling, the orientation, the building blocks of healthy communication as followers of Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: The great preacher C.
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SPEAKER_00: H.
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SPEAKER_00: Spurgeon wrote, I would rather have one mouthful of Christ's love and a sip of his fellowship than a whole world full of carnal delights.
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SPEAKER_00: Oh, may our hearts long to seek the way of love defined by God.
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SPEAKER_00: And may our hearts turn away from the way of love that has been distorted by things we've seen, or people that wrongly taught us, or ways that we've imitated love and our cultural ideology that has distorted the true nature of love itself.
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SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice how he ends this section talking about love.
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SPEAKER_00: He gives two warnings and a practical application.
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SPEAKER_00: Warning number one, verse five.
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SPEAKER_00: You're like, what, God?
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SPEAKER_00: What can we be sure of?
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SPEAKER_00: Here it is.
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SPEAKER_00: No immoral, impure, or greedy person, such as a person is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
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SPEAKER_00: Warning number one.
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SPEAKER_00: A lot of people get tripped up on this.
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SPEAKER_00: Let me help you understand this.
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SPEAKER_00: He's not saying that if you fall or you're struggling or you're trying to defeat any of these things, that you have no place in the kingdom of God if you believe in Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: If you believe in Jesus, you are on a journey the entirety of your life to grow and to change.
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SPEAKER_00: It never happens overnight.
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SPEAKER_00: So he's not talking about that.
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SPEAKER_00: He is talking about those who habitually live this lifestyle perpetually for their whole life, have no inheritance in the kingdom of God.
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SPEAKER_00: It's not people that are struggling and trying to change that believe in Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: It's people who have no faith in Christ and whose life is defined by these habitual lifestyles.
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SPEAKER_00: Then, notice verse 6, the second warning.
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SPEAKER_00: Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things, God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
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SPEAKER_00: Whew! That's heavy.
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SPEAKER_00: What is he saying here?
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SPEAKER_00: He's saying those whose lifestyle perpetually is characterized by rebellion toward God will meet the just punishment of God.
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SPEAKER_00: That's not popular in 2025.
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SPEAKER_00: This is just a warning.
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SPEAKER_00: Any person who says, I don't want you, God, I don't care what you say, I'm not gonna follow anything you tell me to follow, I'm not gonna believe in Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: Those who live whose lifestyle perpetually is characterized by rebellion toward God will meet the just punishment of God.
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SPEAKER_00: Can I just plead with you this morning to turn your heart and life into Jesus?
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SPEAKER_00: To receive his full forgiveness, past, present, future, and experience his love.
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SPEAKER_00: God is warning us so we don't walk down this path, so that we follow the way of love because we receive the love of God.
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SPEAKER_00: And here's the application, verse 7.
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SPEAKER_00: Therefore, do not be partners with them.
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SPEAKER_00: We as followers of Jesus are partners with Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: This is the idea of joint partnership in a chosen lifestyle.
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SPEAKER_00: Paul is not advocating disciples of Jesus separating from the world.
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SPEAKER_00: That's just weird.
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SPEAKER_00: And it's not helpful if we are light in the darkness.
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SPEAKER_00: How do we be light in the darkness if we separate from the world?
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SPEAKER_00: Paul is not advocating for that.
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SPEAKER_00: Paul is advocating disciples of Jesus avoid partnering with the world in a lifestyle contrary to Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: I know I'm talking long this morning, but let me just say, this is the beginning of 2025 for a lot of you, a brand new school year.
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SPEAKER_00: You can choose to say, I'm partnering with Jesus, I'm a follower of Jesus, or I'm gonna partner and attach myself to lifestyles contrary to Jesus this year.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna choose on Friday and Saturday to like play games, read my Bible, hang out with people, eat some good food, or I'm gonna choose to go to parties, get drunk, have sexual relationships, so on and so forth.
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SPEAKER_00: Like, God is saying if you're a follower of Jesus, avoid partnering with the world in a lifestyle contrary to Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: We are called to reach the world for Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: We are in the world to reach it, but we are not of the world partnering in things that are contrary to the Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: And there might be a little conviction there, and that conviction should turn to transformation, never condemnation, because any conviction here is God drawing you to himself as a father who loves you and knows what's best for you.