The Smell of Jesus

Pastor Phil Lowther

New Life in Christ • Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 5 months ago

Ephesians 5:1–7

Love of God

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Title: The Smell of Jesus. Text: Eph 5:1-7 Series: Our New Life in Christ! (01-14-2024)(Epiphany: Love of God, Identity, Gospel Life )

Open: The title of this sermon, “The Smell of Jesus,” is not original with me. It appeared on the sign of a church that announces each week’s sermon title to the passing traffic. I know the pastor of that church and chuckled to hear the reaction of his wife. “Your title,” she said, “will offend. You should call your sermon ‘The Fragrance of Jesus’ or ‘The Scent of the Savior’ or ‘The Perfume of Salvation.’ ”

“ ‘The Smell of Jesus,’ she said, “sounds as though you are talking about gym socks, not the Savior of our souls.”

Said the pastor in response, “I think I’ll keep the title. If it gets half the attention you are giving it, then we will have a full house on Sunday.” Perhaps a little humor of that nature is needed to prepare us for this passage. -Chapell

Smells can bring back memories both good and bad. Freshly baked cookies have one response and gym socks another response. We need to realize that our lives are being influenced and pick up the smell of what we identify with. We need God’s help to see the seriousness of the two related sins He warns of: lust and greed. We long to see the church as centering and rising to the Glory of God. Worship in pagan cities would have been very smelly as the fragrance and the animal flesh was burned. Jews would have had much memory with this at the temple. God commands purity even several previous verses calling us to honor God in what we say, think, and do. Knowing this command does not mean obeying it. Paul goes after our heart through our nose.

FCF: The world runs after idols of relationships & covetous desires to make themself happy. We cannot stop sin on our own. So how do we?

Main Idea: God calls us to Savor Christ’s identity, purity, and security!

Savor Christ’s Identity.(5:1-2)

Therefore…(connects to what Paul wrote before… kind tenderhearted forgiving as God in Christ forgave you-joy comes)

Paul is summarizing what he has written in the previous 4 chapters. Especially forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you. A forgiven heart will forgive. The Gospel changes our heart, will, and desires. The good news brings joyful release from the power of sin. It is noteworthy how God-centred Paul is. It is natural for him, in issuing his moral instructions, to mention the three Persons of the Trinity. He tells us to ‘copy God’, to ‘learn Christ’ and not to ‘grieve the Holy Spirit’. -Stott (the imperative always flows from the indicative. Your identity brings actions good/bad) The indicative—who we are—is clearly stated here by Paul; that is, by Christ’s reconciliation we of all nations and backgrounds are reckoned as God’s dearly loved children. God’s imperatives, and our obedience, rest on that loving relationship; they do not form the relationship. We obey because we are loved; we are not loved because we obey. The love of our Father precedes and stimulates the obedience of his children. We are to forgive and live and love as dearly loved children imitating the One who already is our Father, not performing to bribe God to become our Father. -Dr Chapell (children-heirs not slave)

Live as loved children of God (v1)

Being Imitators of God (We all have experienced imitating Dad’s. If we are God’s children we seek to follow him. )

Being- identity/becoming is the idea of our very nature is tied to Christ and desires to imitate God!

Imitate - the idea of mimic an authoritative example. Trusting Christ enables us to then imitate God.

Paul urges the churches to imitate Himself as He follows Christ. (Who do you imitate? Discipleship)

As Loved Children (adoption is the basis that we are called God’s children)

In love God chose you to be His child, trust Him. (Does this cause you to wonder and awe? It should!)

Eph 1:5 In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, God starts with reminding us who we are in Christ, dearly loved, forgiven, adopted. God fully knows you and fully loves you if you are in Christ. He says to the struggler, “You are a wonderful child, a precious child of God, dearly loved. You are precious to him. Live as one dearly loved. Be what you are in Christ.” Shame and fear can motivate for a short time but makes us more vulnerable to sin over time and bitter towards God. What is more power-instilling than shame or fear is the love of our strong & kind God. He reminds God’s people that they are “dearly loved children.” In the knowledge of that love provided by Christ’s blood rather than their performance, power for obedience springs. -Chapell

God’s love is not just known but should be experienced and tasted daily. (Go to God & ask for His joy!)

Children- Teknon, child or son who proceeds from the father (beloved heir, adopted)

Imitating God means imitating his Son, and that means doing whatever is required to make our lives a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. The smell of Jesus, the fragrance of the Savior that we are to have waft from our lives, also includes offering and sacrifice. -Chapell (God calls us to live in Christ!)

Ephesians 2:4–7 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Those who imitate God are those who walk in love with Kindness and Tenderhearted. The World’s children do not walk this way! We must follow father!

Walk in Christ’s love (v2)(Paul goes from a state of being to a way of walking. A manner of life lived in love!)

Walk in love (being in a pagan capital city Paul calls them to walk in a contrary way of life. Were called and freed)

Eph 4:1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, (There is a way we are called to live so that we are free and yet bound to Christ to trust and follow Him as our king even into suffering. He reigns!)

Christ loved us (Paul shows a comparison and motivation of loving rooted in Christ’s love; love as and because of)

Eph 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (We are called to both give ourselves and die to self. There is an unusual kind fearless humble boldness that enables the Christian to forgive and love like God, Christ’s love changes us.)

Christ gave himself up for us (opposite of what the world gives themselves to, Christ laid down His life for us!)

Eph 4:19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. (This fallen world involves the battle for giving yourself to Christ or to being enslaved to the worlds way of thinking. Christ cam to free you and give new life.) there is nothing unusual or odd in me when the purity and integrity to which God calls me also hurt me. Christian young men and women are too often ill-prepared for battle and weakened in spirit by the sense that they should not have to struggle much with the temptations of physical lust and personal gain. …The fact that your obedience involves pain and struggle does not necessarily mean that God is displeased with you or that you are less spiritual than others. In fact, without the pain of giving and sacrifice there could be no fragrant offering to God. What enables us to bear and offer this pain is savoring our identity as children of God, and remembering that we are called to live as the Child of God who offered and sacrificed himself for us. -Chapell

Fragrant offering & sacrifice to God (offering and sacrifice shows Christ fulfilled all the requirements of the Law)

Fragrant offering shows God’s acceptance of all that Christ has done for us. God has accepted you if you are in Christ, He is a pleasing aroma. Of all the commands in these verses, the command to love stands supreme. Imitating God is further described as walking in love (5:1–2). Paul defines love by the example of Christ, who offered himself as a sacrifice to God on behalf of sinners. Love is the most important of all the virtues because when it is consistently displayed, all of the other virtues will naturally be embraced. When Christians love each other, they will be careful to speak kindly to each other. When Christians love one another, they will not be bitter, angry, wrathful, or malicious toward one another but instead will be willing to work hard so that they can share with those in need -Merkle

Connect 1: We savor Christ’s Identity when we live out of the love Christ has applied to your life. His Identity as beloved Son is applied to you as His child. So now as a child we should desire to live in Christ’s purity and holiness.

Desire Christ’s Purity. (5:3-4)

Starve Impurity (doesnt fit the Holy ones) (5:3) (contrasts with the positive command, “Don’t walk in these ways!”)

Paul turns from ‘self-sacrifice … to its very opposite, self-indulgence’, from genuine ‘love’ to that perversion of it called ‘lust’. The Greek words for fornication (porneia) and impurity (akatharsia) together cover every kind of sexual sin, in other words all sexual intercourse outside its God-ordained context of a loving marriage. -Stott (Only Biblical Marriage truly gives freedom and security. God’s design. Like a fish in water vs. flying, set free. Strange new world.)

But…These are not to even be named among you (the first triad of sins called to not be named/associated with…)

This was a high and holy standard to demand, for immorality was rife in Asia. And since the Greek goddess Artemis, ‘Diana of the Ephesians’, was regarded as a fertility goddess, sexual orgies were regularly associated with her worship. -Stott (How are sexual ethic of culture confronted by the Gospel? Christ as Lord!)

No sexual immorality (porneia, this includes all sexual activity outside of loving marriage, Husband/Wife)

No (all) impurity (all things unclean/impure; desires contrary to Christ’s life/reign; TV/Movies, encourage)

No covetousness (greed, longing for what you do not have and a desire for the world’s life/possessions)

Paul adds covetousness, surely because they are an especially degrading form of it, namely the coveting of somebody else’s body for selfish gratification. The tenth commandment had specifically prohibited coveting a neighbour’s wife, and earlier in this letter Paul has written of the ‘greed’ -Stott

Only what is proper among the saints (Holy ones; does not fit a beloved child of God. Called blameless by God.)

There it is again: the indicative. Before discussing impure actions that make us ashamed, Paul reminds us of God’s prior actions that make us holy. Not only are we God’s children, we are saints, holy people (hagioi). -Chapell (Paul uses Saints- set apart before the Universe was made. You are His- Loved in Christ!)

They are not holy by their actions, but by God’s forgiveness in Christ—the root concept motivating all imperatives in this passage. -Chapell

Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

Our behavior as God’s children must be consistent with that identity that He has given you in Christ. He was given over to suffering/death so you would be freed to be loved and accepted in Christ. He rules every part of His children’s life. The Gospel should change all of you!

Feed on Thanksgiving (not filthy talk)(5:4)(Stuff your life reminding yourself of God’s love and kindness!)

When I know that I am not made for sin, that I am a fundamentally different creature in Christ Jesus—still sinful but reckoned holy so that no sin will satisfy me or have ultimate power over me—then I am filled with thanksgiving. -Chapell (God inhabits the praise of His people; be filled with praise & His power)

No filthiness (sins rebelling against God’s moral standards of speach; result shame, embarrassment, disgrace)

No foolish talk (nonsensical talk while drinking; fools that speak without thinking; Sin normalized/grieved over)

No crude joking (quick witted, clever humor; turn of phrase used in malicious or vulgar ways; Sin laughed at? )

These are out of place (Not fitting a child of the King; we should look to build each other up into Christ! Don't try!)

Rather let there be Thanksgiving (joyful thankfulness; God is the source of every good and perfect gift- Jm 1:17)

Saints are exhorted not to lie but to tell the truth (Eph. 4:25), not to steal but to work (Eph. 4:28), not to express bitterness but rather kindness (Eph. 4:31–32). That pattern now continues as Paul exhorts believers not to speak what is filthy, foolish, or coarse, but rather to offer thanksgiving (Eph. 5:4). -Chapell (Pride vs humility; How are your conversations centered around Christ? God has set us apart and recreated us as children of light not darkness. We are to walk-rooted)

The contrast is striking and beautiful. In itself thanksgiving is not an obvious substitute for vulgarity, since the latter is essentially self-centred, and the former God-centred. -Stott (We should see God as the good Giver who has boundaries that free us to give thanks in the right way. He is our good King, trust Him!)

Connect 2: We should grow in our desire of Christ’s purity and savoring Christ’s identity. We live in Christ and so Trust Christ’s Security!

Trust Christ’s Security. (5:5-7)

Heed the warnings (inherit a better Kingdom)(5-6)(God loves to give good gifts to His children & warns us of sin)

Paul moves on in his treatment of Christian behaviour from models to motivation, and adds four powerful incentives to righteous living. -Stott

For this you may surely know everyone who is (knowing/revealing the true character of a person by how they live)

Sexually immoral, Impure, Covetous (those who pursue these things, show they live in a dark kingdom)

Idolater -Those who copy the world (image what you worship or desire; reflect your identity, god)

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (True freedom comes from God and His boundaries; not lies/world!)

No inheritance (lot/portion according to law; first inheritance then possession.)

Galatians 5:16–21 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Our Good King places us in His freedom!)

In the Kingdom of Christ & God (Christ is our King then we will follow His Word not the World’s false promises.)

Let no one deceive you with empty words (kenos-frivolous, boasting, opinions)

1 John 3:7–10 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. The word “comes” is in the present tense. While Paul could have isolated the ultimate consequences of sin in the eschaton, he includes the present. Aspects of God’s wrath come against sin now. This does not mean that the sinful now will face all the consequences of their idolatry, but the emptiness of such pursuits already denies the joy and fulfillment of a life with God. -Chapell (They lived in a culture of immorality and greed. We do too if you listen to the world. If we are not careful we grow blind, deaf, & complicit to the seriousness of sins. Catholic-Pope calls to Bless what God has cursed. “So-called same-sex marriage”. People want sin blessed but God promises wrath!)

In an airport recently I watched as a woman walked down a concourse toward a passenger transport cart approaching from the opposite direction. The cart had a flashing light, a loud beeper warning of its approach, and was full of people, yet the woman kept walking on a direct collision course. Finally, the driver slammed on the brakes and, still, the woman walked into the cart. She was not blind, or deaf, or deranged. I learned from others that drivers of these carts are trained to deal with persons such as this woman. In a busy airport, the senses of such persons can become so overloaded by all the warnings and alarms that the signals are no longer processed in the brain. Evidence grows that we are increasingly such people. The many reports about the consequences of sexual sin and materialistic greed in our culture are shouting their warnings to us. Yet, at the same time, we continue to expose ourselves and our children to the sinful entertainments and materialistic priorities with fewer and fewer pangs of conscience. -Chapell (God calls us to wake up to this warning. Listen to God’s voice!)

Wrath of God is coming on the Sons of Disobedience (God’s wrath comes against; those seduced/persuaded by sin)

Paul is not here threatening that God will abandon or destroy his children, but he is pointing to the wrath that will come upon those whose ultimate choice is idolatry and using their punishment as an object lesson to warn his children to steer clear of sin. -Chapell

Love God’s Warning (5:7)

Therefore… (Do not be led away to your detriment; Live with Christ as King not self; dont follow your heart)

They are surrounded by sexual and material temptations that have captured them in the past and tempt them in the present. Without question there are those in the churches who are continuing to struggle with these idolatries, or else there would be no reason for Paul to address such matters. -Chapell (Father warns!)

Do not being (What are you trusting in, desiring, & identifying with; How are you living?)

Remember that he is warning his children, his holy ones. He is warning those dear to him of their danger, but this is itself a sign of his love. If he did not love, he would not warn. Always we are to understand that an aspect of the grace of God is his zeal to warn us of the consequences of sin. Were he only a God of retribution, then he would relish the harm that comes to those who cross him. But here he speaks to those already bought by the blood of his Son, and who yet trample his blood underfoot by their sin, warning them to flee from the consequences of their sin. The motive for such a warning to such people as these can only be love. -Chapell (We need to look to Christ and realize as our Good King and Savior He has redeemed and continues to make us new in Him!)

Partner with them (Fellow-sharers with, becoming like them; Who is influencing you? )

Eph 3:6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

The words echo those from John’s epistle: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). In a similar way Paul speaks here to the Ephesians as if to say, “Behold what manner of love the Father has lavished upon you that you should be God’s children, his holy ones. That is what you are.”

In Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Temple of the Holy Spirit,” an adolescent girl is visited by two older teenage cousins who want to introduce her to more sophisticated and adult interests. At one point the girl overhears her older cousins mock a nun who has suggested a formula to help young women stop the advances of young men. Sister Perpetua advises that the way to fend off a young man in the back of a car is to say, “Stop, sir! I am a Temple of the Holy Ghost!” The older cousins find this advice hilarious. The younger girl, however, is deeply moved. The news that she is the dwelling place of God fills her with a sense of awe. She savors what it means to be so special to God that he would give her such a gift, and the knowledge of being so treasured by God makes her desire to live her life in thanksgiving to him. The adult sophistications that were so appealing still have their allure, but now she knows that they are out of place for one made to be the holy dwelling of God.

Paul has said to these Ephesians already that they are a temple of God (Eph. 2:21), and now he says that they are his children, his holy ones (Eph. 5:1, 3). This is the knowledge that is to fill them with praise and make out of place the impurities and idolatries of the world. They are no longer made in such a way that these things of the world can bring satisfaction; these things will, in fact, bring greater pain. These same dynamics will occur in our lives, so Paul seeks to overwhelm us with the savor of our identity, the blessings of purity, and the warnings of grace. We are to imitate God because we are his children. Nothing else will do any more; nothing else will satisfy. Paul tells us that as an odor of a sweet savor to God, we should be what we are. We are his children and we are saints. So we should live that way! -Chapell

Here are a couple closing thoughts to pray and ask God about in our lives:

Stop looking to your heart, look to Christ’s heart of love for you. We’re far worse than we ever imagined, and far more loved than we could ever dream. Christ has come to forgive & free you from your. The church is not a museum for pristine saints, but a hospital ward for broken sinners. Christ came to rescue us from our sin. We need to see our identity in Christ as greater than sin. The essence of sin is not necessarily that we want bad things but it's that we want things too badly. Savor Only Jesus in the Gospel frees us!

Christ revolutionized the way sex was addressed and talked about then and now. Today sexual freedom is seen as the highest good for an individual. But God has made marriage between one man and one woman as the highest good for sexual freedom. Any sex outside of God’s design for marriage will destroy you. We need God’s bounderies when it comes to how we see how God made us as enfleshed souls, men and women. Both are equal in worth before God and complementary in function and purpose. (like the fish freed from water culture seeks to desire what God has said is off limits not how we were made.) Desire God’s heart & plan for you!

We want Jesus as a consultant rather than a king. There are two kingdoms and only one will last forever. Have you trusted Christ as your only King or have you adopted Jesus as consultant when convenient? Paul reminds us that either you are of the Kingdom of light in Christ & God or are still in the Kingdom of darkness and much is determined by who you follow, who you listen to. Are you imitating Christ by His power? Or are you deceived in following the world of sexual rotteness and dirty greed? God is our good Father so we must trust and rely on Him for everything. This takes humility and thanksgiving. If He did not spare His own Son but went to the Cross on our behalf how will you doubt Him now? Stop self justifications/empty or course words look to the Living Word of God for He will never let you down if you trust Him. We are freed from sin for He went to the Cross as our Sacrifice and Warrior King. He took on Sin & Death wrestling them to the grave, conquering them forever in resurrection. So as you wrestle with sin and temptation look to Christ for help, strength, and guidance. Trust His promises never to fail or leave you. He goes with you in His strength.

Closing: “Arise my Soul Arise” SGM

VERSE 2 He ever lives above For me to intercede His all redeeming love His precious blood to plead His blood atoned for every race His blood atoned for every race And sprinkles now the throne of grace

CHORUS O my soul, arise Behold the risen Christ Your Great High Priest Your spotless sacrifice O my soul, arise God owns you as His child Shake off your guilty fears My soul, arise

Benediction: Jude 1:24-25: Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

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