{"id":26547,"date":"2023-06-02T22:00:24","date_gmt":"2023-06-03T05:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ephesians-4_25-32-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-05-16T15:31:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T22:31:47","slug":"ephesians-5_1-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ephesians-5_1-7\/","title":{"rendered":"A Life of Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ephesians\u00a0 5:1-7\u00a0 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ephesians 5:1-7.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ephesians\u00a05:1-2\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1<\/sup>\u00a0Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup>and\u00a0live a life of love<\/strong>, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-2: \u00a0This is one of my favourite verses in the Bible.\u00a0 It’s worth memorizing!\u00a0 Not only is this verse beautifully written; it’s also a great summary of what it means to be a Christian. \u00a0 It sums up some of the big truths that Paul writes about elsewhere:<\/p>\n

– that we are dearly loved children in God’s eyes<\/p>\n

– that Jesus showed us His love in the most practical way: He gave Himself up for us as a sacrifice to pay for our sins (This verse reminds me of Galatians\u00a02:20\u00a0where Paul says that it was Jesus “who loved me and gave himself up for me”)<\/p>\n

– that, in response to God’s love for us, we are called to be like God and to love the way He did. (Earlier in\u00a0Ephesians\u00a04:24\u00a0Paul tells us we are created to be like God\u00a0in righteousness and holiness<\/em>.\u00a0 Here he tells us we are called to be like God in\u00a0how we love\u00a0<\/em>too.)<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/em>\u00a05<\/em>:3-7 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>But among\u00a0you\u00a0there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of\u00a0greed,\u00a0because these are improper for God’s holy people.\u00a0<\/em>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.\u00a0<\/em>
\n5<\/sup>\u00a0For of\u00a0this\u00a0you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person–such a man is an idolater–has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.\u00a0<\/em>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.\u00a0<\/em>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Therefore do not be partners with them.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 3-7: \u00a0Some Christians in Paul’s church in Ephesus were starting to be influenced by the wrong crowd.\u00a0 This wrong crowd consisted of people who claimed to be Christians but who persisted in sexually immoral behaviour and other impure conduct and showed no hint of wanting to change.\u00a0 It’s the same thing when Christians today say, “I can be a Christian and still sleep with someone I’m not married to, or use obscene language, or watch porn.\u00a0 God loves me anyways!” \u00a0This kind of thinking is called antinomianism, or licentiousness, the idea that you can do whatever you want because God loves you anyway.<\/p>\n

Paul addresses licentiousness here as follows:<\/p>\n

– Don’t think that you can be a Christian and persist in sin on the basis that ‘God loves me anyways’ (v3-5).\u00a0 God’s grace was never meant to be a licence to keep on sinning, but a call to live a life of love.\u00a0 If you choose to use God\u2019s grace as a licence to keep sinning, one day you may find your heart so hard that you stop trusting Jesus altogether and disown the faith that saves you.<\/p>\n

– Remember that sexual immorality, impurity and greed are all forms of idol worship (v5).\u00a0 Whenever you put anything first in your life above God, that is idol worship. There are countless forms of idol worship but they all lead to the same dead end: frustration, emptiness, and bondage.\u00a0 But when you put Christ first, the result is peace, joy, purpose, hope, and freedom.<\/p>\n

– Instead of using your lips to speak obscenities, foolish talk and coarse joking, use your lips to speak words of thanks that build others up (v4).<\/p>\n

– Do not intertwine your life so closely with the wrong crowd that you become negatively influenced by them (v7).<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, thank You for loving me and giving Yourself for me.\u00a0 You did it not so that I could continue to live in sin, but so that I could live a life of love.\u00a0 Holy Spirit please help me not to be influenced by the wrong crowd.\u00a0 Rather let my life shine for You wherever I am, both through my actions and my words.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ephesians 5:1-7.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ephesians\u00a05:1-2\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children\u00a02\u00a0and\u00a0live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-2: \u00a0This is one of my favourite verses in the Bible.\u00a0 It’s worth memorizing!\u00a0 Not only is this verse beautifully written; it’s also a great summary of what it means to be a Christian. \u00a0 It sums up some of the big truths that Paul writes about elsewhere:<\/p>\n

– that we are dearly loved children in God’s eyes<\/p>\n

– that Jesus showed us His love in the most practical way: He gave Himself up for us as a sacrifice to pay for our sins (This verse reminds me of Galatians\u00a02:20\u00a0where Paul says that it was Jesus “who loved me and gave himself up for me”)<\/p>\n

– that, in response to God’s love for us, we are called to be like God and to love the way He did. (Earlier in\u00a0Ephesians\u00a04:24\u00a0Paul tells us we are created to be like God\u00a0in righteousness and holiness.\u00a0 Here he tells us we are called to be like God in\u00a0how we love\u00a0too.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26547"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26550,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26547\/revisions\/26550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}