Blueprint, Part 13

This recording is from Willow Creek Church in Wintersprings, Florida, where Reverend Kevin Labby is our senior pastor. Today's message is by our pastor of discipleship, Reverend Kurt Moore. This is part 13 in a sermon series on the Book of Ephesians titled, Blueprints. This message is taken from Ephesians chapter 5 verses 1 through 14. Now here's Kurt, but today's message. We're going to look at a text we're continuing in the Book of Ephesians and we are looking at Ephesians, the title is Blueprints. And so the Blueprints that we have is God's plan to rescue the world through the church. And that is his design. And so we're going to look at Ephesians 5 verses 1 through 14. Let me preface this by saying this is a very challenging text. And as I prayed over this, I wanted to be faithful to the text, but also sensitive to the ideas that are here because we're going to look at sexuality as God's design for human flourishing within his design for human flourishing. So this is Ephesians chapter 5 verses 1 through 14. Here the word of God. Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as his proper among the saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 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 of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partakers with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of the light. For the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. And try to discern what's pleasing to the Lord, take no part in unfruitful works of darkness but instead expose them. For it is 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. Therefore it says, a waco sleeper and a rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Let's pray and then look at God's word. Whether we come before you with a text, whether that, whether it's so appropriate for where we are today, personally in our experiences and in our culture, there's so much sexual brokenness, there's so much confusion. But Father, we thank you that you from creation have designed a plan for human flourishing and you have established, as the creator, the way in which we should live that really does establish human flourishing. Father, we're aware that this teaching is contrary to what's around us in the culture. And so, Father, we want to deal with this text, with faithfulness, with authenticity, Father, with respect. Also knowing that we were once in darkness and we're in light and we, Father, remind us again and again that we are recipients of your grace that have done nothing. We've not earned your favor. It has been given to us and we've been pardoned. We've been rescued out of the mud and the mire and we stand upon a foundation. And that is on Jesus Christ who has placed us there. And so we thank you for Jesus that we're even here, that by your Holy Spirit, you've given us new hearts and new minds to understand, new loves and new affections. Father, we thank you that they're being renewed and we pray that with the hearing and the preaching of your word that you would renew our desires. We would point us to Jesus. Lord, we pray that you would forgive the one who preaches for his sins and many. We pray to see Jesus and him only. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. I'm going to tell you a story to begin to illustrate what we're going to talk about. And it's a true story. I know a number of you grew up in this area. I grew up in Winter Park and I never will. I never will forget this event. It was in 1976. Some of you that may have attended Winter Park High School remember this event. There were I think there were five or six football players from Winter Park High School, the Peshay, Young and Sullivan's. There were brothers and then there were friends and they were on a fishing trip at Mosquito Lagoon. And one of the fathers was with them. It was winter. It was foggy and they didn't see the oyster beds. They capsized. They had their waders on and they sank to the bottom. The father swam was able to get away. And he swam to get help. But the boys drowned. And so when I was in middle school at Glynridge, I never will forget it was part of the kind of cultural consciousness of the city. It was a major event in which everyone was glued to the television and many students went to Mosquito Lagoon to search for the bodies as well. But they all died. Now I was in that same location, about almost 30 years later with a friend who had just purchased a new boat and we were with his son. And I don't know why this is making this noise. We're with his son and he wanted to go faster. He wanted to go faster and faster and he wanted to go beyond the markers that were the oyster bed markers that warned us that there was danger if we went on the other side. And so we said Joshua, this is not designed to take away our pleasure and joy. The markers are designed to establish our joy and our pleasure. The oyster bed markers are not to take away our enjoyment and pleasure. They're not there to restrict our fun rather they are loving boundaries that are designed to promote human flourishing. In other words, they're gift. Those markers were to protect us because outside of those boundaries meant disaster and possible death. And so friend's sexuality is similar. Sexuality, I will say, is not much different than this. God has given sex to provide intimacy, union, security, pleasure, and to provide for children. But within the bounds of God's design, there is a promise. There is a promise for human flourishing within those boundaries, but outside of those boundaries that God has established, there is only emptiness, despair, and ultimately death. And this is God, the creator who has established this, and he has established it for human flourishing. It's his design. And so Paul is writing, the text we've just read, Paul is writing, to a people whose culture is obsessed with sexuality. But they were living outside the bounds of God's design for human flourishing. They were living outside the bounds of God's design for human flourishing. And Ephesus, you have to understand, was the cultural, it was an economic center for that region. And it was also a religious center for the worship of the goddess Diana or Artemis. And so the culture was surrounded by participation and acts of worship for the goddess Diana. So sexual acts were a part of, they were performed as part of the worship of this goddess Diana. And the sexual practices also led to other sexual practices, all of which were outside of God's original design. And God is the one who supervises the text that we are reading. And we say Paul wrote this, but he was inspired by the Holy Spirit. And these are preserved for us, but I say this to say that Paul's choice of words were intended to warn about participation in all of these acts that we're going on in the culture. In adultery, it was to warn against adultery, prostitution, and every, every kind of sexual immorality and unnatural sex acts. And now, you say this too, for Christians that were living in the region of Ephesus, their spiritual condition had changed, but their geographic location had not. They had been rescued out of darkness into light, and they were light, but they were living in darkness. They were still living in a culture that was still embracing these sexual practices, yet they were called to live in a different way. And they were new creatures in Christ, yet they worked and lived in the same place. They had the same friends, there were the same people that they interacted with. They even had the same neighbors. Of course, they had the same family members as well. And they would have certainly appeared at odds with the surrounding culture. And they would have appeared to be odd. One of my new favorite authors, I rediscovered her, Flannery O'Connor, the famous southern novelist, and Flannery O'Connor wrote famously years ago, she died in 1964, but this is what she wrote. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd, and the reality is no one wants to appear odd. We don't want to be different. Because that means we stand out. That means that we could be subject to ridicule, rejection, exclusion from social events, business dealings, or even worse. And so Paul tells the Ephesians, he tells them, he says, don't cave in, don't cave into the pressures to conform, don't bend to cultural conformity. And he gives these stern warnings not to believe what's contrary to God's word, or God's prescribed design for sexuality and for human flourishing. And so I think this is a timely subject for us, because these are issues that we've been wrestling with for decades, and are even now very, very central to our culture. It's a timely subject for us today, because we live in this time when the pressure for cultural conformity regarding sexuality is enormous. It is enormous. And so let's jump into the text. Paul begins, as we look at verses one through three, Paul begins, shifting from one topic to, you know, he seemingly moves to an unrelated topic. He moves quickly from talking about God to talking about sexuality. But he's doing this in order to contrast the sacrificial love that's displayed in God through Jesus. And he does this in order to highlight the selfish and false expressions of love, which we're threatening the church. So looking at verses one through three, here the word of God, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexuality, but sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as his proper among the saints. So I say, why so harsh? You know, he dies right and why so harsh? Why such grave warnings? Well, it's because the first thing I want you to see is that sexual sin is a rejection of the gift and the giver. Sexual sin is a rejection of the gift and the giver. Paul wants to show us that at the heart of all sexual sin is idolatry or false worship. False worship is at the center of all sexual sins. And in this case, sexual sin is taking a gift, taking a gift from God that's designed to establish human flourishing and it's rejecting for exclusively personal and purely selfish gain. It's turning it, turning it inward. And our sexuality really is set. The way God has designed it for human flourishing, our sexuality is set within the boundaries of an exclusive committed self-giving and complimentary relationship between a man and a woman. And sexual sin, though, is seeking to find satisfaction apart from God and apart from his good and perfect design for human flourishing. What it is is it's the deification of self. It becomes the deification of self. In other words, it's attempting to be your own God and living in such a way as to ignore the gift and to ignore the giver altogether. It's looking to the self and the surrounding culture to define and to shape our sexual practices and sexual identity. And first thing I want you to know, what Paul is not talking about, he's not talking about people who are struggling, who are struggling and repenting. He's not talking about these talking about habitual unrepentant lifestyles. And he's giving a warning, but you must know this, that when we see warnings in the Bible, it's always for invitation as well. But the reality is because this is false worship, it can't bring life. False worship never brings life. It offers the promise and hopefulness, but it always produces emptiness, despair, and ultimately death. And this text is referring to in this life and in the next. And so empty words, if we're looking at empty worship and Paul is saying, watch out for these empty words, these empty arguments to conform. Empty words lead to empty worship which always results in an empty life. Empty words lead to empty worship which always results in an empty life. And I want you to look at three texts that's from our text that state this very clearly, verses five, six, and eleven. I'll read them for you. Verse five, for you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral and pure who's covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. You've already got what you want, because what you're doing, Paul is saying, is you're trading a treasure for trash. You think it's a treasure that you're getting, but it's not. Now it's this exchange. You have no inheritance in the kingdom of God. It's just emptiness. It's vaporous. You know, Jonah, the prophet Jonah, was an idolater. He was so set in his identity as an israelite that he thought the Ninevites did not deserve God's mercy when he had forgotten that he had received was a recipient of God's mercy. So God sends a storm and a fish to rescue him from his idolatry. So in the belly of the fish, he's been in there a few days. Then he repents and he cries out and he says, those who cling to worthless idols, forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Those who cling to worthless idols, forfeit the grace that could be theirs. This is the great exchange. It's treasure for trash. He's saying you'll have no inheritance in the kingdom of God. And then in verse six, he says, let no one to see you with empty words for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. The ultimate conclusion of that is being separated from God, rejecting the gift and the giver you're rejecting, rejecting God. And so the wrath of God rests upon the sons of disobedience. And so in verse 11, he says, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness. Unfruitful is a very, very profound and pregnant word. Unfruitful means there's no life in it. There's emptiness. And so Paul wants to make the point here, empty words lead to empty worship, which always results in an empty life. Don't believe what they're saying. Don't believe the lies. There's no hope outside of God's design for human flourishing and sexuality. We'll always lead in despair and emptiness. I love to watch movies. I love Netflix. But occasionally, I'll find a movie that I really, really like and I will purchase it. There are a few that I have a small, small collection. What I love now about these new DVD sets is that you have two discs. One is the original movie than the other one has the commentary from the director. You have more deleted scenes. You also have alternate endings. I think what Paul would suggest here to us is that even if you had an unlimited amount of alternate endings, they would always lead to despair outside of God's design that he has prescribed for human flourishing. You can watch every, everything apart from God's design within the context of sexuality. You take it your own way. It will lead to futility, to emptiness. And another thing is, when you see people and you maybe hear them in some happiness, they're outside still living within the bounds of darkness and choosing for themselves outside of God's design for sexuality. You don't see the deleted scenes. The deleted scenes, the emptiness, the despair, the sleepless nights, the restlessness. That's not what you see. The promises that there's emptiness, empty words lead to empty wordship which always results in an empty life. This is the warning and Paul is giving, don't believe the lies. Be careful. Don't conform to the culture and their expression of sexuality. Don't believe the lies. They never produce life. You will never find the satisfaction that you're looking for. It will not produce wholeness. As you pursue this, it will only produce more than greater brokenness. So I hope you're cheerful in this. Listen, there's hopefulness in this text as well and this is where we transition into right now. The solution that Paul provides for us, he says, rejoice in the gift and the giver. We're to rejoice in the gift and the giver in order to protect us from believing lies. He says this. Listen to the text. Be imitators of God as beloved children, as beloved children, walk in love as Christ loved us. And then he says, let there be no filthiness or foolish talk nor crude joking which are out of place but instead let there be thanksgiving. Give thanks. In other words, let what comes out of your mouth be praise and worship for what God has done and who he is and how you have now become his children and let that fill your heart so you will believe the truth. It will sit down deep deep deep into your life. The idea here is and this is the image I have that I want to impart to you. The idea is be imitators of God rather than standing on tiptoes with our nose pressed against the glass to the world longing for that. Paul is saying beyond tiptoes with your nose pressed against the glass looking into the story to which you have been written into as the beloved son or daughter of the king and may that begin to transform your heart and your mind to new obedience to new acts of love and by pointing to Jesus and his love for his bride the church, Paul is pointing us to a great resource is a great resource because it's Jesus and he's pointing us to Jesus which has the ability to blast to blast truth to blast hope to blast light into the darkness into the darkness and unbelief that we may face when we're faced with a culture that that lives differently that believes differently you know I say sometimes I just I think of how crazy what we believe I just think sometimes it's true but you ever think that the world would see that as just so odd it really is you should shake your heads or else you're not getting it hope you see how odd this is and how odd we are because we're distinct from the culture that doesn't mean it's not true it is true this is true truth but Paul is saying let the truth of this sink into your hearts because you'll be tempted to disbelieve but let the truth of the reality of the love of Christ sink into your hearts so that it permeates your thoughts it permeates your actions it permeates your emotion and it fills those empty places of doubt and unbelief and it motivates let it motivate your obedience to walk within the prescribed design for human flourishing which God has established as we see it in the Bible and what this looks like is this truth is this that Jesus himself stepped into the darkness he stepped into the darkness so that we could have light so that we would be light so that we would have life he stepped into the darkness he was consumed by his father's wrath so that we could be consumed by the father's love this is the story we need to tell ourselves because it's true and we face so many so much pressure to disbelieve Jesus also accepted rejection he accepted ridicule he accepted the alienation so that we could be welcomed and loved as the children of God and he willingly gave up security union pleasure of the father in order that we would know security union and pleasure of the father's love when we tell ourselves the story tip on tiptoes pressed against the glass of the gospel it fills those empty places it it begins to transform the way we think and the way we live when you know that God's love for you is perfect when you know his love for you is perfect that he only gives good things to his children then you can believe his design for sexuality is perfect and you can live within the boundaries without the temptation to move outside and to disbelieve you can face the darkness of even appearing odd to those that are outside the faith you can face the darkness of appearing odd you can then face the darkness of your own singleness and your own loneliness or emptiness or marital despair or sexual brokenness knowing that that you're not alone but that you are deeply deeply loved by God and this love leads to radical radical new obedience and human flourishing and we we're better able to reject the lies and the empty words that are constantly assailed at us and the pressure for cultural conformity to believe what is contrary to God's word he has designed sexuality for human flourishing this whatever God prescribes he didn't just randomly say you know what I think I'm just going to make this up everything he's the creator we're the creatures he is established for us a a design for he loves us and he wants our best he's not going to withhold a good thing it is it is designed for human flourishing and so then we can see that God's way is best and it is true finally in the last thing I want us to see is that as we rejoice in the gift and the giver we begin to reflect the gift and the giver to those who are still in darkness and we participate with God in their rescue listen to the text Paul says but but now you are the light of the Lord you're the light of the Lord take no part in the fruitful works of darkness but instead expose them and he says but in verse 13 but when anything is exposed by light it becomes visible and then he gives this this hymn which we believe is a baptismal hymn that was common at the time and he said awake oh sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you he's saying this that as you live and express God's design for human flourishing within the context of marriage and sexuality that you are a witness to the world that it exposes the darkness to which they are trapped you're revealing the emptiness and the futility of their life as they watch those who are rejoicing in their savior Jesus within what appears odd to them at first but begins to say it exposes and it awakens as Jesus moves towards those who are still in darkness to which we were at one time and so he's saying you become a witness through your human flourishing that's why at Willow Creek Church we're so profanely and when we're developing more and more our Christian education to promote the family within the context of the family it's the witness as one Christian social commentator James Davidson Hunter says we are to be faithful presence a faithful presence to the world to witness before the world that it not just exposes the futility but it reveals the glory of Jesus and many times we do not display human flourishing we we show a frowning face and great condemnation we forget that we're ones who were called out of darkness under in light we sometimes think and live as if we've done something in order to be rescued that's not true and that's a lie sometimes I think it's valid that the world sees us as kind of odd and kooky because sometimes we are and we aren't gracious and we don't show ourselves as ones who've been rescued and we're once in darkness he's saying live in such a way that you radiate the love of Christ in your own life and through your family and that that would be transformational we don't need we don't need the right person in political office in order to bring about this change but we've you know I tell you what we've believed this for a long time we don't need the right political people we don't need right policy laws are not going to transform the way people live and their sexuality love does and Jesus does and so I say what I love John Stott writing in a commentary on Ephesians he said our faithful presence had witnessed to the world it says it's like a flower growing out of the mud it's a flower isn't that amazing we're flower growing out of the mud that's a witness to the world but I have to tell you this I know that there are many people here struggling given statistics there are people here who are maybe struggling with same same sex attraction with homosexuality obviously with adultery promiscuity and I'll tell you what the world says virginity is something to be shameful of and the world says that if you watch the television shows and you read some of the journals and you read some of the some of the newspapers I'm not going to pick on women but let's just say for example in New York the thought is you don't need a man you just need a career you just need someone to fertilize your eggs and you don't need a man and how long have we witnessed empty words in television shows that display the husbands and fathers as buffoons and how many times do we see and do we hear the statement that you know marriages are failing therefore we need to dissolve marriage well I say this and maybe it's a bad example there are planes that crash but that doesn't mean that you end air travel either the reality is is that we have a hopefulness because this is true God has designed sexuality for human flourishing but the reality is again the statistics would suggest that there are many people in this room that sexual abuse has touched that perhaps your marriage does not display this beautiful picture of human flourishing that God has designed I have to tell you this that you can find wholeness in Jesus now and in the future there's a completeness and that's what this table that we're going to take today the communion table points to a future when all broken things will be fully restored but you know what in the meantime there is a restoration a there is a restoration now and there's a hopefulness now listen to Romans 8 11 and be hopeful in this whatever your sexual brokenness may be if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells within you that is for you who are alive that God will transform your mortal bodies he will bring wholeness where there's broken as he he'll bring pieces of wholeness I'm going to close by by giving you this image I don't know how many of you know how Walt Disney world started or what the foundation was where Walt Disney world is it was built in a swamp it was built in a diseased mosquito infested swamp and now there's a magic kingdom I want that image to seep in and if Walt Disney could create a magic kingdom out of a swamp imagine what God can do through Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit to bring restoration to your broken parts let's pray for the we we thank you that you you are real and you hear you hear our prayers we thank you that we're united to Christ in a way that that it's it's spiritual there but we don't understand the depths of it but but there's a union that is unbreakable that you have entered into our lives and you have given yourself to us Father we thank you that this is true even when when the culture screams that it's not we thank you that you love us and that you press the gospel in we pray you press it in more and that we would rejoice and that we'll be hopeful and that you would use us to rescue those who are still in darkness we thank you for the gift that you've given of sexuality for human flourishing Father we thank you as the giver of that and we rejoice we pray in Christ name and then Willow Creek Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America our website is www.willowcreekchurch.org and our phone number is 407 699 82 11