A Pleasing Aroma - Ephesians 5:1-5

Have you ever been, like maybe walking down the street? Are you walk into a room, and you catch a smell, and it takes you back to maybe a different time in your life or a different place, you immediately remember it. Maybe it's cut grass and it takes you back to something in your past or the smell of something being baked or cooked. You have this moment where the sense of smell triggers all of these thoughts, all of these memories in our lives. Maybe it's the smell in someone's clothes that has gone off to college, maybe you're a parent, and you're like, they left a little bit of their clothes behind, and you can still smell what's in their clothes, you smell the person, the, and the thoughts of who they are. Everything's kind of comes back from that, that we leave a smell behind us when we leave. And we also pick up smells that are around us. When I come back from riding my motorcycle, my wife will tell me, I can tell you've been out riding, you smell like the highway. Or if I go eat Indian food, which is one of my favorites, I'll come home. And she'll say, well, I know what you were today. You smell like garlic. And I just go, that's okay. I will take a shower. And then I shower, and 4 hours later, he says, you know, you still smell like garlic. It's not just on the outside. It's actually on the inside, oozing out of you. Now, we have a difference of opinion about garlic in our family, but we pick up the smells of the things that are around us. You know, if you're just walking down the street and you smell something good, you're attracted to it. But I imagine if you're like me, you've also been walking, you've smelled something horrible. And you're like, I need to avoid that. You pick up the pace to get away from it. This idea of a pleasing aroma or a foul aroma. Paul's going to employ in our passage today to tell us how we should live our lives so that we're pleasing to God. We're going to see how Paul tells us to imitate the pleasing aroma of Christ and to avoid the stink of sexual sin and a foul mouth. If you've been following along with us in the Ephesians study, We have been working through it for quite a while. When we hit chapter four, the kind of tone changes with Paul. Chapters one to three, he's explaining who we are in Christ, who Jesus is, how he saved us, how he's redeemed us, giving us his Holy Spirit to empower us. And then in chapter 4, he says, walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. So he's writing these Ephesian believers, and he says, you need to walk in such a way that it's worthy of who Christ is and what he's called you to. And then he begins to talk about our life, like our daily walk. This is where Paul starts stepping on our toes, so to speak. And often at church, we're like, hey, don't step on my toes, but we should be encouraged by that. We would want God. I want God to step on my toes. If I'm living in a way that's not pleasing to him, that brings ugliness into the world, that debases his good creation. Please step on my toes. So Paul starts kind of stepping on the Ephesians toes and as we're reading his letter. He's stepping on our toes. But he's saying, walk in a manner that's worthy. Everything from verse 4, chapter 4, verse one, through the rest of the letter is Paul admonishing us. How do we live a life that's pleasing to God? He continues this instruction in chapter 5, verses one to 5. If you have your Bibles, you can turn there. We is going to show us that we must, and this is the main idea of these 5 verses, walk in such a way that your life is a pleasing aroma to God. Walk in such a way that your life is a pleasing aroma to God. Look at verses one and two. And Paul tells us how to smell good to God. Here's what he says, therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Therefore be imitators of God. They tell us that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, right? That if you're imitating someone, it's because you so look up to them, that you say, I'm just going to copy you. We see this in sports, you'll find athletes who will imitate their favorite athlete, especially when they're younger. We see it in music, a band's going to imitate the band they look up to the most. We see it even in our families as kids grow up. We're going to imitate our parents. We say we're going to do the things they do. Now, we know as parents, I have two daughters, and there are things in my life that I hope they imitate as they get older, that 22 and 20. There's also things in my life that I go, gosh, I don't want you to imitate that part of me. That part that's not exactly right. I look at both my parents. I love all the things I imitate about them that are good, but we would all say, as humans, we're not perfect, right? That there's parts of us say, just don't imitate that part. God though, is perfect. He is the totality of beauty. He is a source of all goodness. He is love itself. And so he says, therefore, be imitators of God. There's nothing about God. that we shouldn't imitate. We don't have to go, well, what part of God should I imitate? and what part should I not? Which one should I choose? We just are to imitate God. And we do this as beloved children. Paul talks about a relationship with God, not like a person's relationship with a government or a law that's impersonal. He says, as beloved children, as children grew up and imitate their parents. He says, so imitate God because he loves you. Know that your relationship with God. And all that Paul talks about when he begins to talk about what we call morality. How do we do right and not wrong? Isn't just kind of cold ethics detached from a relationship, but it's driven by God's love for us. We are to follow him and imitate him as his beloved children. If you've given your life to Christ. He's saying, follow him in this way, walk in a manner worthy of him. And then he tells us how to do this because you could be thinking, how do I imitate God? He's all knowing. I can't imitate that. He's all powerful. I can't imitate all powerfulness. He's everywhere. I can't imitate that. Paul zones in on exactly what he wants us to do. He says, and walk in love. It's interesting in scripture if you read the Bible. You'll find a lot of rules, right? Don't do this, do this as we navigate. When they ask Jesus, what are the most important? He gave two. He said, love God, and love others. I don't think anyone can be confused about what Jesus said. Like, you don't have to remember 680 rules. It is not a long list. It's not a compendium of things that you got to figure out. He says, love God, love others, that drives everything we do. It starts with love of our creator, and then it travels through in the love of his creation with humanity at the apex of that. He said, love, God, love others. The challenge we have is not understanding it. It's doing it, right? We know we should love. We have to do that thing, then we have to live that out. And at times, we can even get love wrong. We label things as love that aren't love. That we go, that's not love at all, but we call it that word. We give it that title. So I can say things like, I love football. Oh, I love hot dogs. And we use the exact same word, and I love my wife. You go, those things don't seem the same. What I mean is, I like what football can do for me. I like that I enjoy watching football, and what it does for me, or I like hot dogs, what they can do for me, but it's a very selfish type thing. It's not love. It's just I like that thing. But love for a person is different. We have to understand what it means. Paul gives us a definition, by the way, of what love is in 1st Corinthians 13, when he tells us to walk in love. He says this in verses one to seven. I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love. I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all that I have. And if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. And then he defines love for us. Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things. Believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Says you want to know how to smell good to God? Paul says, walk in love. He doesn't just leave it there, though. Paul then shows us how God has shown that love. He says this, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. How do we know what love looks like? That love isn't a selfish taking of what's good for me, from someone, but a giving to that other person? He says, here's what love looks like, like Christ who gave himself up for us. Christ, who is God the Son, came to the earth, died on a cross for my sins. Because he loved me. He gave himself up. He humbled himself, thought of others. He came to be a servant and not to serve. He said, this is what love looks like. Paul said, if you want an example of what it looks like to love others, Just look to Christ. Put your eyes on him. Learn about who he is, learn about how he lived his life, and you'll see, lived out in front of us, an example of God's love, that we are to walk in. And here's what he said about Christ giving himself up for us. It's a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. This language, fragrant offering and sacrifice, comes from the Old Testament. The 1st time we hear about it, is after the flood, Noah comes out of the ark, and it says he sacrificed some of the animals. To God, in honor of him, showing his faithfulness to him, his love for him, and as the smoke ascended, the language was that God said, that's a pleasing aroma to me. that I like the smell of that. And then if you keep reading in the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus, that over and over, it says, when you're to bring these sacrifices, the sacrifices, some of them were for sin, if you've done wrong, you were to bring an animal, and that animal was to show you that the cost of sin is life. And you'd bring something of value as a God because I've offended you, here is this offering. But they were Thanksgiving offerings, were you just saying, God, I'm so thankful for all you've done, and you would offer up something, and they would burn them on the altar. And the smoke would go up and it would say, it's a pleasing aroma to God. Now, we also see in scripture places where people did these things, so they actually made the sacrifice. But God says, it's a stench to me. It's the same thing being burned. It's the same smell going up, but now he says, it's a stench to me. I'm not pleased by these because they're being motivated from a heart that isn't committed to me. It's being done, um, because I, you think you have to, but you don't love me. You don't care about me. but you're just doing this thing because it's part of your routine. And the relationship's been shattered. He says, I find no pleasure in that. That's not a pleasing aroma. Maybe we've experienced that kind of aroma, right? where doing something, like, because we have to, for a person that we love, and they know we're just doing it because we have to. And the thing was actually pleasing at one time, and now it's like, nope, that doesn't please me at all. You know, if guys, we've neglected to help around the house, and we haven't done our share and the wife gets a little upset, rightfully so, and then we go, ah, I'll just cook some food. You think, that smell good. She may go, no, that smells so good. That doesn't fix the problem. This one-off meals. doesn't fix the problem. God says, look, there are times when what I'm smelling isn't pleasing to me, but Christ gave himself up out of faith to God. He said, not my will, but yours be done the night before he was crucified. And he's calling us to imitate Christ who is this fragrant aroma to God. Paul also tells us in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2, verses 14 and 15 that we become the aroma of Christ to others. Look what he says. He says, but thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession. And through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. That Christ is a pleasing aroma to God, and when Christ lives in our life and we live him out in the world, says, that aroma goes out from us. And others are able to smell it, other, to recognize Christ in that. Paul's shown us what is pleasing to God here in these 1st 2 verses, what smells good to him to walk in love, and now he's going to turn to those things that are opposed to love, that are selfish and harmful. Those things that innocence smell bad to God. And the 1st one he mentions is this in verse three. Sexual immorality stinks. Here's what he says, but sexual immorality, and all impurity, or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Paul, in the next 2 verses, is going to use 3 words in each verse to kind of deal with the same idea, but he's hitting it at different angles. So the 1st word he uses is sexual immorality. That's anything that's outside the bounds of what God has prescribed for sex. The Bible has a very strict sexual ethic. It's not complicated. Sex is acceptable between a husband and a wife, and that's it. And we think, ah, we don't like that. Humanity of the world doesn't like that. But God gave sex to humanity, and it's a wonderful, amazing, beautiful thing. And when it's mistreated, when it's abused, It's a highly destructive, damaging thing. It's why I think God puts so many parameters around it. I don't have to convince you of this. Just look around the world. You know it's true. You absolutely know this is true. Paul says there should not be any sexual immorality among you. Or our culture has a way of trying to take something that should smell bad to us. Sexual immorality should smell bad and make us avoid it, like you're walking down the street, when you smell something bad, you go, ooh, that sewage. That's decay. I'm going to move away. We just naturally do that. The world convinces us that sinful things, harmful things. Things that smell bad to God should smell good to us. They often do that by the words they use. So sexual immorality, again, is anything, any sex outside of marriage. Our culture uses the phrase making love. Now we are to walk in love. So who wouldn't want to make love? Wow, that's amazing. We should do that. The phrase originally is about 500 years old. Shakespeare uses it, and in the context, he uses it. It's not sexual immorality. actually the idea of someone pursuing a person, like a man pursuing a woman, in order to woo her, to court her, to say, hey, I would like us to love each other. It has become, in our day and age, a word to just deal with any sort of consensual sex. As long as the people are agreeing to be a part of it. You can call it making love. The Bible would say, it's not. The phrasing wants you to make it sound like it. Oh, that sounds like a good thing. Sounds like a helpful thing, a useful thing. Maybe it will smell good. It simply doesn't. Paul says, sexual immorality we should avoid. Or all impurity. He kind of expands it out. to this idea of impurity. In Paul's day, when you hear this word impurity that they would have used, it would have some connection to the sacrificial system in the temple. So in a Jewish context, there was a lot of things that would make you impure. Some of them we would call moral things, like adultery. Or murder. You became impure, unable to enter into God's presence. Other things could be ceremonial. So if someone had touched a dead body, They couldn't go into the temple. Often if you begin to look at what makes you impure, it's things where life is being diminished. So death is part of our world, but if you touch the dead body, you've encountered something, and then they go into God's presence, is to say, hey, life is in God, death is here, and he was trying to teach his people this idea. But this idea, we shouldn't have any sexual immality, all impurities, which expands out the list of things we should be avoiding. And then he says, our covetousness. And you wonder, what is covetousness? What do we mean when it says to covet? We know this is in the Old Testament. You can go read Exodus 20. It's one of the top 10 commandments that's there. It says this. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbors. When we talk about covening, Coveting is different than just wanting something. So Luke, maybe Luke goes, man, I want to get some tickets to the Chiefs game this year. Nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong to say, hey, I would like something, I want to save money. This is something I want. Coveting is when you want something that's not rightfully yours. So let's say I had some 50 row, you know, 50 yard line front row tickets to the Chiefs game, and Luke wants those tickets. They're not rightfully his. And he says, how can I get those tickets? How can I grab what's not rightfully mine? It's not just, hey, can I have a wife? said, I want your wife. Or you want my wife. That's coveting. It's taking more than's rightfully yours. It's a sign of discontentment in life to say, I want to take what is someone else's, what is there, right? There should be no coveting. If you read the Old Testament and stall the story of David in Bathsheba, King David looks out over the city and sees Bathsheba, Uriah's wife, and he says, I want her. David had his own wife. He says, but I want her, and he takes her and then kills her husband. And then Nathan, his prophet comes to him and says, David, I got to tell you a story. There is 2 men. One was poor and he had one little lamb. And he loved this lamb. The lamb and him, they ate meals together. They hung out together. They were best friends. And the rich man had 1000s of lambs. And a man came to visit the rich man, and the rich man said, we need to have a meal. We need to slaughter a lamb and eat it together. And he says, could you go to his service? Go get that poor man. That guy's lamb over there and bring it here. We cook that one. And they cook this guy's lamb, the only one he had. That the rich man had no right to. And when David blows up in anger at this rich man. How dare this guy do this? We should go punish him. Nathan says, you're the guy you coveted what was not rightfully yours. He says, there shouldn't be any coveting. Sexual immorality is coveting. In the form of adultery, we say, I'm going to sleep with someone else's husband or wife, it's obvious, but premarital sex is coveting too. You're taking what is not rightfully yours. from that person, even if they're saying, hey, I'm willing to give it to you. I'm willing to have sex with you. This is not yours to take from them. God has said the only place for this to happen is in the confines of a marriage where people have committed their entire lives to each other. He says, have no coveting. And don't even let it be named among you, as is proper among the saints. We shouldn't even be talking about it. It shouldn't be on the radar of things we do. This is interesting because I think often we try to say, how close can we get to sin? without doing it? It's like, where's the line? So if this is wrong, I want to kind of live right here, right next to wrong. We don't do that with bad smells, right? How many of you have ever got a slight whiff, a hint of a whiff of a skunk? Raise your hand. Okay, so how many of you, Luke, I will ask you, Luke, you got that whiff of a skunk, right? Was your reaction to go, I wonder how close to that stink I can get before it starts attaching to my clothes? I just want to be as close to the skunk stink as I can possibly get. Why did you go, mm, I think I'm not going to be anywhere near that. I don't even want to be near it. I'm just going to get as far away as I can. That's what we do with skunk stink. But with sin, we often go, hmm, that sounds like immorality. I think I'll get as close as I can. How much can I get away with before it starts attaching to me? Paul says, don't even let it be named among you. That should be our reaction. That's God's reaction to these things. He says, this is how we should be. Sexual immorality stinks. But then he goes in verse four. And he tells us don't have a foul mouth. Look what he says. There be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which you're out of place. But instead of it, there'll be Thanksgiving. When you were growing up, did you ever hear the phrase that starts with sticks and stones? Let me have heard that phrase. I don't know they say it anymore, so they're still telling you people these crazy lies. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Now, we know that's not true. Well, like, that can't be true. Words shape our world. That's why the culture that wants to condone sexual immorality can say, let's call it making love. That's a good thing. That sounds good. We can redefine how we think about something by the words we use, by how we talk. The language that we use. The messages that we convey day in and day out, shape how we perceive the world around us. And Paul is now going to talk about not having speech that's foul in a sense, God's saying, don't have bad breath. And he starts with, let there be no filthiness. The word filthiness in the Greek, the original language, it was a contrast with what was true and beautiful and dignified and proper. And so filthiness was this idea of that, which debased that, that which kind of mocked that. So imagine if you were in a room and the fragrance of baked goods, that you just love the smell was in the room. And then someone comes and drops a stink bomb in the room. You would go, well, that's ruined the good smell that was here. Or if someone vandalizes a piece of art, this beautiful painting and someone comes up and just throws trash on it, that's this idea of filthiness. He says, is your language, is your talk? Not just that you're telling, like, off-colored, dirty jokes, but are you debasing that which is noble and good by the things you're saying, by the words that are coming out of your mouth? He said, let there be none of that coming out of our mouths as his followers, nor foolish talk. This idea of foolish talk is the idea of like empty, meaningless, purposeless words. He's not talking about, if you're sitting around with friends, and you're having some coffee, and you're talking about the chief season, or the weather, or just normal things we talk about. If you're consistent life that you are only ever engaging in meaningless talk that has no purpose. This foolish talk, you're engaging in ideas and thoughts that lead nowhere, that our days are filled, filled with meaningless babble. It says we shouldn't have that in our lives. As Christians. He says no filthy talk, nor foolishness, nor crude joking. This is the word that, in English, it's really hard to translate from the original. The original word meant a good turn. And it was actually a positive word. So in the original language, if someone heard this word, they wouldn't think crude joking like, ah, that's just, you know, like lowbrow humor, you know, gutter language, they wouldn't think that. They would hear the phrase turning a good phrase or being witty. or being clever in your speech, someone who can speak really well, and they can turn a phrase, and it entertains you. So you're like, oh, that's well said. We all know people who can do that, who just have the ability. You're just sitting around in a group and whenever they say something like, he's so good. He just, he can use words really well. That's what that word originally meant. What Paul's saying is this. He saying as Christians, we shouldn't just kind of avoid filthy talk or empty, meaningless talk, but we shouldn't even be taking these ideas and using language in a way that's appealing and attractive to then endorse ideas and thoughts that are not appealing and attractive. He moves from shameful speech, to foolish speech, to clever speech. What's clever speech, it's the kind of speech that someone could make you laugh at adultery. It's a movie that makes us think sexual immorality is romance when we watch it. It's well done. The words that they say are convincing. They say it so well. He says, don't do this, don't use God's good gift to us to then elevate those things. that are deplorable to God. He says instead of these things, instead of the words coming out of our mouth being that which is filthy, or meaningless, or endorsing, and giving credence to those types of things, even though we say them well, we say them cleverly, they could fit in polite company, so to speak. It says, don't do any of that. Instead, let there be Thanksgiving. That the words that come out of our mouths on a regular basis should be building people up, should be encouraging people, should be thankful for what God has done to us. A thankful heart, one that's saying, God, thank you for all you've given me, has less likelihood to be a covetous heart that says, I'm displeased with all that you've given me, and I want something else, that we are to be giving thanks and gratitude and speaking these kind of words into the world. We've all experienced the difference between the two. You've been in situations where the words being told, are tearing things down, and debasing that which is noble, and you leave, feeling defeated, and run down, or you've been in places where words build you up and strengthen you, and you leave, feeling encouraged. Paul's saying we should be that as followers of Christ. The words we speak should be words of life and beauty. And then he ends in verse 5 with a warning. He says, for you may be sure of this, writing to the Ephesian believer, said, you just know this. Don't question it. Don't doubt it. That everyone who is sexually immoral. He had already mentioned that. or impure, or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God. And we go, what do we do with this? We've all been this way. Is Paul saying that no one's going to heaven? No one has, he's told the Ephesians in chapter one. You have an inheritance. You're saints, you're holy. He's talking about our walk, our habitual walk. as followers of Christ. We all are on this journey to be more conformed to Christ, to imitate him more each day. Are you going to make mistakes? Yes. Are you going to stumble in that walk? Yes. What he's talking about is the habitual everyday lifestyle. If your lifestyle every day, all the time, is sexually immoral, your language is degrading. He is saying, you should really think, are you actually a follower of Christ? Did you mean this commitment you said you made in the past? Said, there is no inheritance for that person, for the one who is covetous, and then he calls them an idolater. This is where I think covetousness and the idea of sexual immorality are so important. Covetousness is wanting something that's not rightfully yours. What it's really saying in effect is, God, what you've given me, what I have is not enough, you don't satisfy me. So I'll put something else in that place. Something that you've said I shouldn't have. It's not rightfully mine. But I'll do that because that will bring me happiness. That will bring me joy. That becomes your God. So if you're covetous, if you're out saying, what can I get that's not rightfully mine? You've placed that thing as your God? He says, that's why it's called being an idolater. And he says, we should have no place for that in the Christian life. that we ought to give off the aroma of Christ, not the aroma of this world. Walk in such a way that your life is a pleasing aroma to God. I question to you is this, what do you smell like? What do we smell like? When people are around us. What's the smell that we're giving off? We see aroma of our life, the aroma of our breath. Two things to encourage you today as a follower of Christ. One is cultivate the aroma of contentment, not the stench of covetousness. Cultivate the aroma of contentment, not the stench of covetousness. That means 1st and foremost, we build our relationship with God. We do those things God's called us, so do we dig into his word? We're praying to him. We're gathering with other believers or talk about him, to experience who he is. We build that into our life and saying, God, I want to be content in you, that you provide all that I need. I trust you in my life. I'm not looking to other things. I don't want to have the stench of covetousness in my life. We're going to walk in love, seek the good of others, not what could be done for us. Because we think day in and day out. And this is something we learn. He says, Paul told his followers, imitate him as he imitates Christ. That's an ongoing lifetime journey. That we're trying to get better every day. We're trying to more and more say, have I cultivated contentment and not the stench of covetousness? Like what does covetism look like in regards to sexual immorality? Of course, it's obvious if you're taking something that's not rightfully yours with another person, but, you know, you could ask the question very easily. What does your phone smell like? What aroma comes off of your phone? What aroma comes off of the text messages in your phone? The images, the videos. Of your computer screen. And just ask, does this smell like Christ? Or does it smell like the devil? And if the smell of the devil is appealing to you. Dig into Christ and who he is, reach out and say, hey, I need some help. This thing's in my life that I know Christ thinks, smell bad, and I think they smell good. something's wrong with my nose. Something's wrong with my lifestyle. I need to change that. I need to dig into who Christ is more and more, cultivate this aroma of contentment of who Christ is and what he's done for you. And then second, cultivate the aroma of gratitude, not the stench of disgraceful speech. It's so easy, right, in our language to slip into jokes that are off color. But we say them in such a way that, hey, it's really, you know, we kind of, it's not just a crude joke, it's sophisticated humor, but it's elevating that which is sinful. I struggle with this. I was studying this message going, oh my gosh, how many things in my life, God? Let's point them out. There were some toes being stepped on during the week as God was working on me going, hey, I think you've been telling jokes here and there that are a little off color. You turned a witty phrase you thought was funny, but it's not funny, what it elevates, what it does. Do our jokes celebrate Christ? Does our speech fill others with contentment of who God is and what he's done for them? An easy way to work on cultivating gratitude this week? is find the people in your life that you're close to and tell them things that you're thankful for. Husbands, tell your wives, things you're thankful for this week. Wives, tell your husbands, parents, tell your children, children, tell your parents, brothers and sisters tell each other. Brothers and sisters tend to spend a lot of their time just cutting each other down, running each other down. It may be helpful to say, let me tell you why you're so amazing this week. What I like about you this week? And as we build this kind of language of gratitude, of speaking life into people and not death, encouragement, and not discouragement. We will cultivate this aroma of gratitude, and not the stench of disgraceful speech. All of us in this room. We're going to leave a smell behind this week. We're going to leave an aroma. Will it be of Christ? Or will it be of the devil? Will it be an aroma that draws people to Jesus or pushes people away? Our life reflects that. And Paul in this passage calls us to live our lives in such a way that we smell good. to God.