Choosing Today To Walk In The Light | Episode 15

Thanks for listening to this week's episode! Today, Pastor Johnny opens Ephesians 5 and calls believers to imitate God, walk in love, and redeem time in a dark age. We confront impurity, crude speech, and deception, then move toward wise living, Spirit-filled strength, and exposing darkness with courage and care.  And inviting to reflection on how you choosing to spend your time while you have today?

• identity as beloved children and imitators of God
• walking in love through sacrificial living
• rejecting sexual immorality, impurity, and coveting
• replacing crude talk with gratitude
• refusing deception and partnership with darkness
• bearing the fruit of light: good, right, true
• exposing sin with biblical accountability
• awakening from apathy to intentional wisdom
• redeeming time in evil days
• seeking God’s will and being filled with the Spirit

Check out Christian Grant's new worship album at
https://www.christiangrantmusic.com

Transcript

Welcome And Theme Of Time

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Hey, Johnny Underwood here with the Undivided Podcast. Thank you for tuning in today, and I really hope you're blessed by this episode. Good afternoon, Undivided Podcast listeners. Thank you for tuning in today. Johnny Underwood here, and I am so excited to engage you around God's word and excited to divide this and break this

Reading Ephesians 5:1–18

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scripture down. We're going to be in Ephesians 5 today and see what God wants to say to us, see how we can look at God's word and make it applicable to the way that we want to live, or more specifically, the way that God wants us to live. So with that, let's just jump right in and look at verses 1. I think we're going to go through 1 through 17. I'm going to read them and then we're going to come back and not break down every scripture. So we're not going to be here all day, but we're going to break down some key scriptures here. And I think there's a theme here that I want to point out. And let's just as we're going through this, think of the word time, what we hear as he references time. So let's start with verse one. Says, therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetedness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which is 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 God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. Verse 7. Therefore do not become partners 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 light is found in all that is good and right and true. And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Verse eleven, take no part in unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things 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, Awaken, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Verse fifteen here. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. That's as far as we're going to go today. That was through verse 18.

Imitate God And Walk In Love

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So what I want us to do is I want us to come back to verse one and just engage a couple of things here. So the first thing I see here is therefore be imitators of God. So to be an imitator of God means we've got to be in proximity to God. We've got to know his word. We've got to look at those places where we run into God or we have images or pictures and behavioral history of God. So being able to look into scripture seeing how God was in the Old Testament, how God was in Christ Jesus in the New Testament, that we need to be imitators of that. As beloved children. Again, as beloved, we this touches based, touches on previous episodes, this as beloved children, that we are loved. We are beloved by God. What a wonderful thing to be identified as a loved child by God. And then verse two, he says, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. So we're called to walk in love as Christ loved us, right? As he was here on earth, as he loved us, and gave himself up for us. That's what Jesus did, right? For the love of God, right? He came to earth in the form of a man and sacrificed himself for us. And it says, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. That's what Jesus did. That's what we're invited to do. And then he says, and we just we keep coming into these conjunctions. We've got a therefore, and now we've got a but. So in verse 3 he says, but but sexual immorality and all impurity or covetedness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints.

Sexual Immorality, Impurity, Coveting

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So sexual immorality, we know what that is. That is from just the basic word of lust to pornography in our day to fantasy, uh, anything that's outside of marriage, anything that's not that God says in his word, it's not appropriate, it's sexual, right? God designed us with sexuality, but there's a place in our sexuality that we can do immoral things instead of moral things. So he says, but sexual immorality and all impurity and covetedness, that is, impurity is just things that are impure. They're not holy, they're not, they've been uh tainted, right? There's there's perversion or corruption in them, like a dirty glass of water instead of a pure filtered glass of water, or covetedness, which is the the desiring of and longing for, and in your heart wanting to possess the things that someone else has. Covetedness must not even be named among you. So, and what what I hear there when I hear that must not even be named among you, when our name or the name of Christ in us comes up, that these things are not in that circle. They're not when my name comes up, you don't also think of impurity or you don't think of covetedness, you don't think of sexual immorality. That they go, no, that that's a pure man, that's a holy man, that's a godly man, that's a godly woman. Um, they're contented with what they have. He's contented with what he has. He's not coveting his neighbor's wife or his neighbor's things or the various things that we see in advertising and marketing. He's contented or she's contented with what she has. So these things ought not be named among us. They shouldn't be in our sphere of um the desires of our heart. They shouldn't be what's what's in us or coming out of us. And he says, as is proper among saints. So he's telling us, and he's pointing here, that we need to be looking as, thinking as, functioning, living as saints, right? A saint, one who is sanctified, set apart.

Speech: From Crude Jokes To Thanksgiving

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So then he says in verse 4, let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead, let there be thanksgiving. And I can tell you over the years, this has been a place that's been a place of struggle for me. I have over the years given myself way too much license as a guy to give space for, I would say, guy humor that is not holy, it is not edifying to God. So again, this is a place that God has worked and is working in my life. But he's real clear here. He says, Let there be no filthiness, no foolish talk, nor crude joking, which is out of place. This is again, uh Paul saying here, it's out of place, it's not, it's not good, but instead, let there be thanksgiving, right? Instead of entertaining these things, we need to maintain and set in that place of thanksgiving. And again, as I said in last week's episode, what do we have to be thankful for? We need to be mindful of the goodness of God, the faithfulness of God, what Christ has done for us on the cross, right? As we visit the empty tomb, the empty grave that he has risen, right? And even before his ascension, after he is risen from the dead, before he ascended to heaven, he said, he tells his disciples, he tells his followers, go pray in the upper room and you wait. The Father, my father has a gift for you. So he says, I will not leave you as orphans. I have a gift called the Holy Spirit for you. These are things that we have to be thankful for, right? If there wasn't anything else, if there was no more relationship with him until Christ's imminent return, that would be enough. But he gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we can have fellowship with him here now in the 21st century, right? And we can be thankful for that. And that we should be thankful for that. Instead of entertaining these foolish, sinful things, we're invited to walk in gratitude, to walk in thankfulness. So we're going to jump into first verse uh five here. For

No Inheritance For Unrepentant Sin

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you may be sure of this, Paul says, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who covets, that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of God, or excuse me, the kingdom of Christ and God. I mean, that's strong language right there. He doesn't say you're gonna live in a different residence in the kingdom of God. He said you have no inheritance. We can't have these things named among us. They cannot be in our heart. We cannot have an appetite for these things and think that we're going to have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God. Wow. I mean, I don't know about you, but that's that sounds like strong language in our in our day today. In this world that we live in that says, I'm an American, I'm a Christian, grace covers everything. And I think we've got a misunderstanding of what grace is. But he's saying real clear here, it can't be named among you. And if it is named among you, there's no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God for you. And I think there's a place for us to set in that space with God and say, God, search me and know me. Reveal in me, is there any of this here in me? I want to submit it to you. I want to repent of it. I want to engage you. I want to be holy as you are holy. He says, verse 6 here, he says, Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. So even if someone else is telling you, oh, it's okay, there's grace for that. It's okay, God

Don’t Be Deceived By Empty Words

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understands. He says those are empty words. It's not true. He's real clear here in his word here in Ephesians 5. It can't be named among you. And it says, Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. To have these things in us, we are identified by God as sons, and I'll say daughters, of disobedience. I don't know about you, but I don't want to deal with or engage God because of my disobedience. I want to repent. I want to settle those accounts and have a pure heart before Him now while we are in this dispensation of grace. To be able to say, God, in this time, while while there still is grace, the grace is to wash me of my sins, to wash me of my filth, to wash me of my immorality, my sexual immorality, to wash me of the impurities of my life. God, search me. I don't want to have a coveted, coveting heart. I want to be contented in you and what you have provided for me. And there's a command here, I would say a directive, let no one, let for each of us, he's saying to us, let no one, Johnny, let no one deceive you with empty words. Right? I have a choice in this deception. Do I allow someone to tickle my ear and tell me, oh, it's okay, God understands? Because that's what I want to hear. I'm choosing deception if I allow myself to sit in those spaces and listen to that and accept deception. He says, Let no one, that's a choice I get to make. I'm gonna say, I'm gonna let no one deceive me. I'm gonna take God at his word here. So we have that. That's that's what he's called us to. I'm gonna say invited, but really it's what he's commanded us to. He said, let no one, not if you consider it, if you consider this okay, right? He didn't say he says, let no one a directive. Verse 7, therefore do not become partners with them.

Children Of Light And True Fruit

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Those are the sons of disobedience. Do not become partners with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Right? This was us before, but that's not us now. We were in darkness, or as he says here, you were darkness, but now you are light. You are light in the Lord. And then he says, Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. What is good and right and true, that we say, God, I have an appetite for that. Would you create in me an appetite for what is good, for what is right, for what is true? I want to walk in integrity, I want to walk in forthrightness, I want to walk in wholeness, I want to be sexually moral instead of immoral. I want to honor you with my sexuality, I want to honor you with a pure heart, I want to honor you with being contented instead of having a coveting heart.

Expose Darkness The Right Way

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And he says in verse 11, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness. Man, think about that. Again, we have choice here. And he's telling us, make the choice not to take part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. How often do we, maybe we just get away from the situation? He says, No, there's a place to expose them, there's a place to bring them forth to the right governing body or the right circum in the right environment to say, hey, this isn't okay, and I'm going to bring this to those who can do something about it. And they and that we have responsibility to bring accountability to it or bring it to people that can hold individuals or ministries or those that are walking in the jersey or the under the brand of Christ Jesus. We bring them to leadership, right? To say, hey, this is what I've this is what I see, this is what's going on, this isn't okay. And then so that's what we're called to do. We're called to expose them. And that doesn't mean get on Facebook and get on the news. It means that we do that respectfully, initially privately, right? And we turn that over knowing that we have honored God and what we've done and the way that we've handled it. There's clear scripture and directive on that. It says, I'm not going to unpack all of it, but if your brother has sinned, go to your brother. And if he repents, you've won him over. He hasn't. If he doesn't repent, go with another brother. And if that doesn't work, you go before the church. Right? That's, I believe, kind of what we're looking at here when it says expose them, that we walk through this process that God's laid out in his word. So, verse 11 again, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. Verse 12, for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. So we're not to speak of them. We're called to expose them, to take them to the proper authority, but we're not to speak of them, we're not to gossip about them. We're just called to to expose them in the proper way, and then I would say get away from them and not speak of them, not to speak of these things,

Awake, O Sleeper: Choose The Light

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of what the things that they do in secret. And he says in verse 13, but when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, right? We know this. We can turn out the lights, everything's dark, and we could trip over our furniture, we could we could stumble along and things, but when the lights come on, we see where everything is, we see actually what's going on, and we're able to move and function there because the light exposes what the hurdles are. In this case, I think he's referring to what the sin would be, right? Whatever those deeds of the darkness are. So that we're called to bring those things to the light, and the light makes things visible. For anything that becomes visible is light, therefore it says, and it be in the word, awaken, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Isn't that what all of us want? And that should be our testimony, that at one point we were asleep, at one point where we we were deceived, at one point we were the sons of disobedience and walking in darkness. But now he says, awaken. That's a choice we make. We he says, awake, make a choice, wake up, walk in this, O sleeper, oh one that is in deception, oh one that is just passively going by, who's just kind of floating down the river, if you will, and arise from the dead. You've been dead, you've been dormant, you've been just coasting, right? You've been doing sin. You've not been following Christ. And he says, and Christ will shine on you. Isn't that what all of us need? We need Christ to shine on us. I know that's what I need. And not just do I need him, I can't live in yesterday shining, I need him to shine on me today. I need him to shine on me again tomorrow. God, I want you to shine on me. I want others to see you, the reflection of you on me and in me. That's what he's inviting us to right here. That's what he's actually commanding us to. He tells us as a directive, awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Walk In Wisdom And Redeem Time

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Verse 15, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but wise. So look carefully then how you walk. So we're called to be walking, we're called to be moving in a direction. We're called to be doing things, to be going to function as holy men and women of God. Be careful how you walk, not as unwise, right? An unwise person just kind of clicks through their day and whatever comes, just kind of a life of scrolling, right? No responsibilities, no direction, just kind of whatever my feelings, whatever my feelings are, I'm just gonna give the end to those today, whatever my desires are, whatever sexual immoral sexually immoral desire I have, I'm just gonna give in to it. Whatever coveting thing I see I want, I'm just gonna go after it. I don't discipline my mind to keep out of impure thoughts, right? I don't discipline my body to stay out of impure things, right? But he says, no, walk as children of the light. Walk carefully, right? Look carefully, then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. We're called to walk in wisdom. We're called to get wisdom, to seek wisdom, to go after God. How would you have me walk today? How would you have me talk today? How would you have me live today? And he says, I love this in verse 16. Make the best use of the time, because the days are evil. And unless you're living under a rock, you can you can't walk among earth today and not acknowledge that there is evil. Like I think we've never, I know that not like I've ever seen in my lifetime in my 54 years, that we're living in really dark, evil times. And I know evil's always been among us since the fall of man, but we're seeing it, at least I'm seeing it, so um confident and so just out there and so accepted by our community and society now in ways that we've never seen before or that I've ever seen before. But he's saying, for you, sons of God, daughters of God, make the best use of the time, right? That's time is an actual thing. I was just saying earlier today that time at 54, I feel like time is the greatest commodity that I have. I can make more money, I can make a lot of other things, I can live without other things. I'm not promised another breath, I'm not promised another day. Time is the great commodity.

Understand God’s Will And Be Filled

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And he says, make the best of the of the time, because the days are evil. What are you doing with the time that you have? What am I doing with the time that I have? What does God desire of me to do with the time that I have and the time that you have? Are there things, are there places that we're supposed to go, are there people that we're supposed to talk to? Are there loved ones that we're supposed to share Christ and live Christ in front of? And I say, yes, there are. Do we have neighbors that need Jesus? Do we have coworkers that need Jesus? Do we have friends and family that need discipling? Yes, yes, we do. And we're invited to make the most of the time because we are living in evil times. And he says in verse 17, therefore, do not be foolish. But understand what the will of the Lord is. Therefore, again, another transition there. Therefore, do not be foolish. Foolish people, right, in this sense, aren't mindful of the time. Foolish people are walking as the sons and daughters of disobedience, right? Rather than sons and daughters of obedience. He says, but no, not you. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. All right. Here's what he's saying here. We can understand what God's will is, what his purposes are, what his intentions are for us today. That's what he's saying here. He said, We need to seek that. We need to set in that space with God and say, God, what is your will here? You're telling me that I can understand what your will is. And God, I want to, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And then verse 18, and do not get drunk with wine, but, excuse me, with wine, for that is debauchery. He says, Don't do it. Don't be a drunkard. He doesn't say don't drink wine. He said, Don't drink wine to the point of drunkenness, for that is debauchery. And debauchery is not okay with God. But be filled with the spirit. Guys, we are called to live by, to be filled with the Spirit. And I would say to continue to be filled with the Spirit of God. It's Jesus who said, My Father has a gift for you. I will not leave you as orphans. Live by the Spirit, commune with God by his spirit, be filled with it, continue to be filled with it. Right? Like a cup that continues to be filled with water so we can drink from it. We continue to go back to the fountain to drink that water. We continue to go back to God and say, God, I need a fresh infilling of your spirit. I need a fresh infilling. God, speak to me, minister to me, comfort me, guide me, direct me. Come and speak through me, God. Speak to me and speak through me. God, I need your spirit. So that's what we're called to do. And again, these are callings. If we're going to be known as or named among the sons and daughters of God, this is how we're to live. To be imitators of God, to be named among his beloved children.

Prayer And Closing Reminder

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I don't know about you, but that's exciting to me. Right? This is part of that the place that we set in this space with God and say, God, again, in referencing to um Psalms 139, search me, seek me, search me, know me, reveal in me anything that's unpleasing to you, God. That's Johnny Underwood translation of that chapter, by the way. But we we ask Him to come and do that. God, is there sexual immorality in me? Is there covetedness in me? Is there impure things in me? Reveal them so I can take care of them, so that I can walk as an obedient son, as I can walk as a beloved child. God, come and do this in me so that I might fulfill your will, your purpose, your call in my life. Because there's an onlooking world that needs Jesus. There's an onlooking world that needs our Savior. It's Christ's desire, it's God's desire that all would come to know Him. And guess what? We're the ones in our generation, we're the ones that are called to take this torch to be light and darkness and live Him in such a way that others experience our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. So my admonition, my challenge to you today is to set in that space and say, God, how can I best serve you with the time that I have left? How can I manage this time that I have to the glory of you, the good of me in the glory of you? And I'm asking that you would set in that space with God today and say, God, search me, show me, help me to live differently, not pursuing the comforts of this world, the leisure of this world, but help me take all that I have from my heart to my possessions and time and push all my chips in in service to you. That when I stand before you, you can say to me, Well done, good and faithful servant, good and faithful son, child in right standing. Well, guys, that's what's been on my heart today. I I love this scripture, I love Ephesians, but the reality is I just love God's word. It's so rich, it's challenging, it's convicting, but it's wholly wonderful. So thank you for tuning in today. I'm gonna just close us out here with a prayer, and then I'm going to remind you again to go back to one of our previous episodes and check out Christian's music, uh, Christian Grantmusic.com, and uh check out that CD that he's got there, or go find him on your favorite um app. You will find Christian Grant there, and I guarantee you, if you'll listen to his music, it will minister to you, you will be blessed. So, with that, let's pray and we will call it a day. Well, Heavenly Father, we just thank you. We thank you for your word, we thank you for your goodness and your faithfulness to us, God. We thank you that we have the opportunity to be called the sons and daughters of God, to be called your beloved children. Father, we thank you. It is no small thing to sit in this space and hold, really hold to that you have saved us. Father, that you spent yourself, you came to earth in the form of a man, and you died in our place. You took the weight of our sin and the consequence of our sin upon yourself, that we could be washed by the blood of Christ and be known as and identified as children of God, beloved children. So we just say thank you, Jesus, for that. And God, I just say, Father, as I've said before, it is my prayer, it is my desire that your blood is not wasted on me. That I live out whatever time I have left to the glory of you. That people will engage me, engage my life, engage this ministry, and they will see you, they will experience you, God, and I will represent you in such a way that they will want to know you. So, Lord, I thank you. And Father, I ask that you would do that work in each person that hears this podcast, who is in is or needs to be the its desires to be known as a son or daughter of God, that you would stir in them to live differently, to live holy, to come and submit themselves to you and say, God, do that work in me, that I can stand before you one day and hear you say, Well done, good and faithful son or daughter. Lord, that is the desire of our heart. And we pray all this in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Guys, go check out Christian Grant Music.com. You're going to be blessed. Have a great day.