Waking Up to Sonship

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Ephesians 5:1-21.

Our consumer world is full of imitations. The classic imitation is margarine. Lots of advertising emphasize this fact. We now have imitation cheese, imitation vanilla, imitation sugars, Elvis impersonators, etc… to the point that some imitations do an excellent job representing the originals.

    • Children imitate their parents for the good and the ill. Speech patterns, mannerisms, and habits of life.
    • Aristotle claimed that by the art of imitation, speakers could learn how to give a public address.
    • Since Paul is using “walking” as a primary metaphor for imitating God’s likeness, I thought about kids imitating the dance moves of famous performers. Or, how you might want to have a cool walk like John Wayne or Shaggy. And it’s not just the legs, but how you hold your head, how you move your arms, your posture, your sway, your pace.
    • When I hurt my knee or sprain an ankle, I discover that the other leg often develops pains a few days later. I’m compensating due to twinges of pain and it is effecting my hip and my hamstring. There is something wrong with my walk. READ 5:3-14

So Paul sounds the alarm, “The house is on fire.” Smoke is filling every room. The stairs are already impassible. You find your young daughter still sleeping in the bed. The smoke alarm is blaring, but because she went to sleep so late last night, she is dead to the world. You gently tap her on the shoulder, “Wake up, its time to wake up sleepy head. Rise and Shine princess.” No. “WAKE UP! WAKE UP!” Wake the dead if you must. Paul’s rattling some cages now.

“Wake up, O Sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Paul says, be Imitators of God’s Walk (5:1-2, 8, 15-17)

    • You will need to study God, God’s behavior, God’s attitudes, God’s actions.
    • And slowly, through imitation and practice, skills and competencies can be gained. For example, learning to play the piano requires skills to be taught and learned, a process that takes time, toil, payment for lessons, and absence from other activities in order to acquire experience.
    • So too with imitating God and acquiring spiritual wisdom. Such a holy life does not come by osmosis or wishing it was so. Our quest for such wisdom and virtue requires cultivation, nurture, and practice leading to the formation of spiritual habits that shape our attitudes and actions. Imitating God’s walk refers to our habitual way of being.

Continue to be Filled with the Spirit (5:18-21).

This is opposed to those who get drunk on wine, who cannot walk straight but only stagger. This behavior is a waste, especially as we squander our lives. People are filling themselves up with something. People desire to be satisfied, and they fill up on all kinds of junk. We need to have a garage sale of the soul and clear out all the junk that takes up space and doesn’t add value.

There is an alternative. The opposite of the former way of life is being filled with the Spirit. Paul calls upon the disciple of the Lord to “be filled with what is good and productive, not wasteful. Being Spirit filled is truly satisfying. Being filled by the Spirit means to be influenced by the Spirit. Paul describes Spirit-filled living within community by giving us four ways you can see virtuous living.

    • By Spiritual Conversation (5:19a).
    • By Spiritual Songs (5:19b).
    • By Continual Thanksgiving (5:20).
    • By Submitting to One Another (5:21).

Imitators of God’s Walk will live Spirit filled lives, holy lives—lives that take seriously Christian practices, habits, and virtues.

Question: Beginning back with Ephesians 4:1 Paul is describing a sharp contrast between the church that is manifesting the wisdom of God by the power of God and with those who live in darkness. Those who “put on” virtues and “take off” vices will live differently. And you can see it. Just as you can see someone who is drunk on wine, you can see the person filled with the Spirit. Is that contrast recognizable in today’s society? If so, how?