Center for Biblical Theology and Eschatology
Called to Holines
by Rev. George van Popta
Location: Ancaster, Ontario Speaker: Rev. George van Popta Date: February 11, 2001 Reading: 1 Cor 5:9-13; 6:9-20 7 Text: Eph 5:3-7, the Seventh Commandment (Lord's Day 41 of the Heidelberg Catechism) Singing: Ps. 136:1,2,3,4; Ps. 136:12,13; Ps. 32:1,2; Ps. 25:2,3; Hy. 47:7,8,10
Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ:
When God made Adam and Eve, he made them obviously and beautifully different. The man and the woman complemented each other in many ways, not least, physically. God brought them together, solemnizing the first marriage, and they become one in many ways, not least, physically.
The physical expression of love between husband and wife is part of God's good, beautiful and wonderful creation. God gave the 7th commandment to protect that. As a fence around that relationship.
When that fence is broken, trouble follows. Paul writes about that in these verse of Eph 5. The summary of biblical teaching we have in LD 41 speaks about it was well.
The church and even the Bible have been accused of having a negative attitude towards sex. Someone once spoke of "Christianity's most intolerable burdensome legacy, [nl.] sex as sin."* That is silly, of course. Neither the Bible nor the church sees sex as sin. We are neither ashamed of sex nor afraid of it. We do not have a low view of it; rather, we have a very high and holy view of it as being, in the right place, God's good gift. And we do not want it to be cheapened through abuse and vulgarity. If the fence of the 7th commandment is breached and sex is taken out of the God-given place and expressed somewhere else, then it becomes something else. Without fail, the most wonderful aspects of God's creation become hideous when taken out of their proper contexts.
And so, married or single, we are called to pay heed to the 7th commandment. We are a people called to holiness. As people filled with the Holy Spirit we're to live differently from the world, from unbelievers. This ought to be seen in every aspect of how we live, not least in the way we live in relation to the 7th commandment.
I preach to you the Word of God under this theme:
AS GOD'S PEOPLE WE ARE CALLED TO HOLINESS
We hear a:
1. A strong prohibition; 2. A simple command; 3. A serious warning.
1. As we have for the past while been listening to the Word of God as it comes to us through the Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians, we have noted several themes. There is the theme of unity. The Lord Jesus Christ is gathering together for himself a church out of all tribes, tongues, nations, and socio-economic groups of people. He gathers local congregations. And the local congregation must maintain that unity and do nothing to disturb it. That's one theme woven throughout the letter. And we looked at that theme from a certain angle this morning.
Another theme you find throughout the letter is that of how Christians must live lives worthy of their calling and of who and what they are. They -- or rather, we -- must live worthy lives by putting off the works of the flesh and of darkness and be renewed in the image of God. In Eph. 5:3-7, the Apostle Paul turns back to this theme, especially as it relates to the 7th commandment.
a. Paul said: ... among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality... It was quite something to say this in Ephesus. We know from Acts 19 that the city of Ephesus was the guardian of the temple of the great goddess Artemis and of her image, which was said to have fallen from heaven. Artemis religion was a fertility cult She was considered the great mother image who gave fertility to humankind. As was typical of the fertility religions, orgies were often part of the worship. For Paul to say that there was not even to be a hint of immorality (and he used the broadest term to include any form of unchastity) was to set a high standard.
b. In fact, there was to be no impurity among them. This belonged to the old sensual way of living they were to put off. They were to turn away from any and all impure, unchaste, activity.
c. Nor was there to be greed, said Paul. The word "greed" can also be translated as "covetousness." Because of the context, we are to think of sexual greed. Don't forget that the 10th commandment speaks about this as well: You shall not covet your neighbour's wife. There's a very close connection between the 7th and the 10th commandments. Paul forbids here an unrestrained sexual greed whereby someone assumes that other people exist for the gratification of his flesh.
These are improper for God's holy people. Immorality, impurity, sexual greed-improper for God's holy people.
What applied to the Ephesians applies equally to us as well. We are holy people. 1:4-God chose us in Christ to be holy. This morning I spoke about how we're not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God (4:30). We can add this as another way to grieve the Holy Spirit. Unchastity grieves the Holy Spirit of God. God has called us to be holy. If we indulge in unchastity, we grieve the Holy Spirit.
As Paul taught in 1 Cor 6, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in us, whom we have received from God. Immorality chases the Holy Spirit out. It grieves the Holy Spirit and he withdraws from us.
Ephesus had its Artemis cult with its associated immorality. The age and culture we live in is not much different. We too live in a sensual and immoral culture. Increasingly so.
I'm usually not one to say that things are so much worse now than they used to be and that the good old days were much better. The "good old days" were pretty bad too. I'm reminded of what the Preacher said in Eccl 7:10, "Do not say, 'Why were the old days better than these?' For it is not wise to ask such questions." And yet sometimes you come across hard evidence that culture is on the moral skids. The news media reported this past week that the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation concluded that sexual content on television has risen sharply since 1997. According to the study released this past week, such content has become standard fair on the sitcoms and daytime soaps. It reports a dramatic increase in the display of immorality and unchastity in the past three years.
If ever there was a time to remove the television to the landfill, I think we've arrived at it.
Not only does Paul prohibit unchaste actions as being improper for God's holy people. He also prohibits vulgar speech. He said in 4: Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking...
As LD 41 says, the 7th commandment also forbids unchaste words. Obscene language. How common that is, even among children of God. Obscene language. Vulgar speech. Dirty jokes. Paul becomes very specific here: Be done with dirty jokes.
All of this, says Paul, is out of place. "Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place."
Sometimes we think that it's OK to use certain words or tell certain jokes as long as we're in the right place. In the bar; in the locker room; at the job site; so long as there are no women and children around. Then it's OK to use rough language or to tell coarse jokes.
Think again. Listen to Paul. He says: Obscene speech and dirty jokes are out of place, period. They have no place, ever, in the life of Christians. There is never a time or place that they are in place. Vulgar words and coarse jokes are always improper for God's holy people. It is just as inappropriate to tell a dirty joke when you are with your buddies drinking a beer as it is to tell one from the pulpit in church. It makes no difference. Out of place. Improper for God's holy people.
Children of God, detest all unchastity whether it be adultery or impure gestures, words, thoughts or desires. Flee whatever would entice you to unchastity. Live chaste and disciplined lives both within and outside of holy marriage.
And be thankful.
That's the simple command (2nd point).
There should be no hint of unchastity; rather, says Paul (v. 4), there should be thanksgiving.
How can thanksgiving be the opposite of unchastity? Does it not seem odd that Paul stacks up immorality, impurity, unrestrained desire, obscenity, vulgar speech and dirty jokes against thanksgiving?
No, it is not odd. The immoral person is self-centred while the thankful person is God-centred. The immoral and covetous person is only interested in satisfying his own sensual lusts, the perverted cravings of his flesh. The thankful person puts off every kind of lust and strives to live in thankful obedience to all God's commands, the 7th included.
Thanksgiving describes and fills the Christian life. To be a Christian is to be thankful. To live the Christian life is to live thankfully.
Our catechism understands that. When it wants to teach us what our religious obligations as Christians are, then it gives an explanation of the Ten Commandments. This explanation of the Ten Commandments is placed in the 3rd part of the Heidelberg Catechism, the part that deals with our thankfulness. With how to live in thankfulness to God who delivered us from our sin and misery-delivered us through the cross of Jesus Christ.
The 7th commandment is part of those Ten Commandments. Obeying the 7th commandment is part of what it means to live the thankful life-thankful for how Jesus Christ has set us free from the wrath of God against sin.
So, yes, Paul sets a simple thanksgiving against all those examples of unchastity. Thanksgiving is the opposite of immorality.
Thanksgiving is also the remedy, the cure for immorality. If you are a thankful Christian, you will have no interest in unchastity. If you are thankful for how Jesus Christ has set you free from sin, and if you not only think and say that you are thankful but live thankfully, then you will scorn and flee immorality and unchastity. You will be oriented to God rather than yourself. Instead of being concerned with satisfying and gratifying your own base lusts, you will want to obey God's commands out of thankfulness. Instead of worshipping yourself as the centre of life you will acknowledge God as the beginning, centre and end of all things.
Thanksgiving -- a refreshing oasis in a desert of obscenity.
Not only does the Word prohibit immorality and command thanksgiving. It also utters a serious warning against those who live immoral lives.
3. A serious warning.
Paul said: For of this you 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. And then he added: Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
There are serious consequences for those who practice the vices of immorality mentioned in the vv 3 & 4. Exclusion from the kingdom and subjection to the wrath of God.
The immoral person might get away with it here and now but not at the end. Paul says we can be sure about that.
Here Paul calls the greedy person -- the covetous person who gives way to unrestrained sexual greed -- an idolater. Of course. Lust elevates the desired object -- whether that be the person's own gratification or another person -- to the very centre of life. Nothing, for that person, is more important. He lives for it. And that's idolatry. Fulfilling unchaste desire becomes the centre of life rather than God. And that's idolatry.
Someone guilty of idolatry has no inheritance in the kingdom of God. Of course not. An idolater does not worship the one only true God. He worships a god of his own making. Someone in bondage to his lusts is not ruled by the love of Christ. And so he excludes himself from Christ's kingdom.
Is there hope for the idolater? For the one who is guilty of putting his own lustful desire front and centre of his life? Is there hope for the immoral? Oh yes. If he repents and turns to Jesus Christ. This passage of scripture and also LD 41 do not teach that a single immoral thought, word or deed is enough to bar someone form heaven. If that were true, I suppose heaven would be empty of people. There is forgiveness for those who fall into such sins through weakness, but who then repent in shame and humility.
In 1 Cor 6:9ff Paul wrote: Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders ... will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The sentence of exclusion from the kingdom and subjection to the wrath of will come down upon the heads of those who give themselves up to the immoral way of life. Those whose lust becomes an idolatrous obsession and who refuse to repent from it have no share in the perfect kingdom of God.
And so, child of God, if you stand guilty of sin against the 7th commandment, then repent. Ask God to forgive you. There is forgiveness for this sin as well. Remember King David. Repent and know that you have a place in the kingdom of God.
And then, as Paul said, let no one deceive you with empty words. Sometimes people try to soft-pedal this sin. "Hey, God created us with feelings; its part of the human chemistry; how can we help it if we give in to our feelings and desires?"
Don't be deceived by those who say that lust is love; or that this sin is not all that bad. Empty words, says Paul. Deceitful words spoken by deceitful people. It's because of such things (immorality and idolatry) that God's wrath comes down. Remember the wrath of God that came down on Sodom and Gomorrah exactly because of such things.
Don't be deceived by those who call black white and sin well and good. Don't, says Paul, be partners with them.
If you let yourself be deceived by those who speak empty words and who tell you there is no such thing as unchastity, then you become a partner in sin.
Children of God, we have the 7th commandment before us. It calls us to chastity, to discipline whether we are married or single, to modesty, to holiness. We've been called to holiness. To thankful living in the face of each of God's commandments.
Also when it comes to the 7th, let us not grieve the Holy Spirit of God but rather delight him.
Amen!
| The Rev. George van Popta earned a BA at Trinity Western University, Langley, BC, and an MDiv at the Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Ontario. He started off his ministry at Jubilee Church in Ottawa in 1987. In 1992 he left to serve a church in Taber, Alberta from where he moved to Ancaster, Ontario in 1997. There he served a church for eleven years. In 2008, he was called back to Jubilee Church. He considered it a singular privilege and joy to be living again in Ottawa and serving the Jubilee congregation as pastor. In 2016 he retired from the active ministry because of health challenges and now lives in Hamilton, Ontario, together with Dora, his wife. He has written a number of books, which can be bought from http://www.vanpopta.ca, Amazon or other Christian nook outlets. He is also the general editor of New Genevan Psalter. |