Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for her, (26) that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, (27) that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. (28) So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. (29) For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. (30) For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. (31) “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”. (32) This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

The letter to the Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today Paul writes that God originated sex/marriage and tells us how God designed it and how we must live in marriage. All Christians are under authority – husbands are not an authority unto themselves but under God who ordains all authority. Christian marriage is an earthly picture of Christ and the church; husband and wife are equal as persons before God, sharing in the grace of salvation. Married love has an exclusive relationship between husband and wife. It has a purifying purpose, a sanctifying purpose.

Paul roots his instruction to husbands in the theology of the cross. Love for wife should be sacrificial, not selfish; should be purposeful, not aimless, with the ultimate aim to glorify the Lord. Love is realistic, not blind; love is an act of the will. Authority is not the priority but love is – it is commanded by God and not culturally determined but a command to love is given to all Christians husbands. This was a radical perspective in those ancient days and perhaps no less radical today in our corrupt culture.

The real cause for failure in a marriage is always self; the husband’s duty is love – seeking the highest good for another person. The obligation of husband’s obligation to his wife goes far beyond sexual fidelity – Paul is not here focussed on the rights of husbands and wives or providing financial incentives in marriage but he presents the sacrifice of Christ on the cross as a model for the relationship between husband and wife. C.s.lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that “love as distinct from ‘being in love’ – is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthen by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God…….’Being in love’ first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise; it is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.”

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, (16) redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (17) Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.. (18) And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, (19) speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, (20) giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

The letter to the Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today Christian’s are warned to walk carefully in an evil day – in a morally and spiritually dark world. There are stumbling blocks in a Christian life. Many faithful saunter through the world’s minefields with no awareness of danger. We must use our brief time here wisely; understand the will of the Lord and be filled with our guide, the indwelling Spirit. We are to walk carefully with steady progress toward a definite goal, amd live in a godly manner.

We receive the Spirit at the moment of faith – the baptism of the Spirit. Paul is saying we are to serve one another in love; to fight the good fight; to keep the faith and walk wisely as children of light. This world is under the dominion of the Prince of darkness. Temptation is a loaded gun and it is dangerous to get used to evil living; Christians are not to live for temporal fulfillment and pleasure but to take advantage of the opportunities God gives us; to look at the unseen with a view to eternity in Christ. The Christian life is not difficult; it is impossible apart from the indwelling Spirit. It is an ongoing process, not an irrational emotional experience. The saved person must confess and forsake all sin and acknowledge without God we are empty and yield every area of our life to His purpose.

Paul tells us we are to stop grumbling before we become a grumble. We are to recognize that God is the ultimate source of every blessing and be thankful and mindful that we are under the Spirit’s control. C.s.Lewis writes that “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good…….A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later……that is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness – they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means – the only complete realist.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (31) Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away for you, with all malice. (32) And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another; even as God in Christ forgave you. (5:1) Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. (2) And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

The letter to the Ephesians was writtten by the apostle Paul. He has been showing what it means to live as Christians in this world. We are to put off our old life and be renewed in our minds and hearts by the indwelling Spirit. The faithful are to put off all bitterness and anger and to be kind and forgive one another. Behavioral changes have as a supreme motive for not sinning which is to not grieve the Spirit who is the pledge of God’s final redemption of Christians. Paul exhorts us to get rid of bitterness which harbors resentment from which flows rage, anger, and chaos in living. The model for our forgiveness and love should be Christ’s love for us to the extent of dying for us.

In a fallen world forgiveness is essential to maintain close relationships. This is not an easy task, especially on an emotional level, but to a Christian seeking and granting forgiveness it is not optional. As c.s. Lewis observed, we are forgiven precisely as we forgive. When guilty sinners repent of sin and lay hold of Christ in faith, God promises NOT to remember those sins. When we forgive someone we are to let the matter drop, refuse to think about the offense and seek to restore a broken relationship. Forgiveness of others gets rid of bitterness which eats at our souls. Bitter people keep score and it hurts them more than the guilty people who hurt them. We cannot afford bitterness. Outbursts of anger have no place among believers.

We are first to make sure we have received God’s forgiveness through faith in Christ alone. We are not to let angry thoughts fester and to ask the Spirit to control (guide) our minds and emotions. Lasting joy is only found in true lasting holiness – sin brings us temporary pleasure but long term pain. Christians are to practice kindness and forgiveness to replace bitterness and anger. We are to remember foremost how God in Christ has forgiven us and that forgiveness is through Christ alone.

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,…….(20) But you have not so learned Christ, (21) if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: (22) that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, (23) and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, (24) and that you put on the new man which was created, according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

The letter to the Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today Paul tells us the faithful are called to no longer live as unbelievers live; in the futility of their mind. They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God – ignorant of God in their hardness of heart. An unsaved man/woman lives contrary to every divine direction until he/she loses the capacity to feel shame or embarrassment. Sound doctrine about God, man, sin, salvation and every area of life is the foundation for spiritual understanding and light. We are not to be what we once were. We are told to put off our old nature; our corrupt sinful life, alienated and separated from the life of God and His truth with no fear of consequences. “The old man” refers to the unregenerated nature of man – the spirit of delusion. The blindness of themselves and their souls is a gradual sinking into spiritual decay which must become spiritual death. We are called to put off the “old man” and the works of darkness. We are to put in the new man, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to be changed and not merely just our acts.

In Christ, we are to live in the righteousness and holiness of a new person, renewed in the spirit of our mind and righteous in our behavior toward others. The Christian life begins when we receive eternal life from God through faith in Christ Jesus. We are taught from the standpoint of this new relationship with Christ. Saved in Jesus means saved not by a philosophy of redemption but saved by an historic person, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God. The truth of the gospel is rooted in history. True biblical change must not bypass the mind; decisions based in emotion will not last. Noteworthy is Paul’s emphasis on the intellectual factor in everybody’s way of life. Scripture is the testimony of the power of ignorance and error to corrupt, and the power of the truth to liberate.

We are to behave as we believe. We are not to live as an unbeliever – our walk is our way of life.
Don’t live as if God did not exist. Don’t live as if Christ hadn’t died for your sins. Don’t live as if there were no judgment or no heaven or hell. Don’t live in the futility of your mind.

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, (2) with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, (3) endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (4) There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; (5) one Lord, one faith, one baptism; (6) one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

The letter to the Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul – he has been writing about doctrine and belief earlier in Ephesians and now, in our verses, he turns his attention to duty, practice and behavior. In our calling we are to live differently in faith in Christ, and we are to walk in unity. The Son redeemed us with His own blood and the Spirit seals us for all eternity. We are a diverse people – physical differences, intellectual differences, economic differences and spiritual differences all compete against unity. But it is the call of the gospel that saved us, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace.

We do not have anything to do with preserving the unity of the body of Christ – God is looking after that. The body of Christ is NOT composed of all the different sects and denominations – that would contain a great many people who are in the body of Christ but would also include a great many who are not. The body of Christ (the church) consists of those who are regenerated and born again by the Spirit in faith in Christ. We are all baptized into one body; both Jew and Gentile are all made one in the Spirit of God. All believers have one blessed hope; one day beholding the face of Christ and being transformed into His image. God’s relationship to the entire creation means God is the creator of all men. He is the living transcendent God over all, directing all things and pervading everything. The Spirit is not only the seal of regeneration but also the promise of future perfection and hope of our calling. In spite of all natural and spiritual qualities and our division and strife upon earth, Christians are still actually one. Peace brings us together and Jesus is our peace.

In our verses the point is, in our calling, that we were aliens, helpless and miserable but now in faith, in Christ we are united in one body. The unity of the indwelling Spirit is something we cannot create. It is a gift from God. In Christ we return from the diversity of function to the singleness of one object; Christ Jesus. C.s.Lewis wrote:”There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else.”

Our verses tell us that we were