Ephesians Chapter Five – Part 1
Ephesians Chapter Five – Part 1
Ephesians 5:1-2 (KJV) 1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
The enemy would love for us to understand the idea of following God as being given marching orders. Here in this part of Ephesians we see a different perspective on it. We are certainly urged to follow God, but the way we are encouraged to follow Him is not out of duty or compulsion.
Instead, we are told that the way we are to follow God is as dear children. What a refreshing thought this is. For me, it brings to mind a child following their parent to see what they are doing, or maybe holding their hand and walking together. Indeed, in the next verse we find that the idea is one of walking in love. It is a very relational kind of following and walking. We follow as dear children, and we walk in love just as Jesus loves us. There is no sense of demand or force, just a mutual self-giving love.
The love Jesus has given us is the sort of love that drives us to serve and help one another. This is the famous agape love that God has for us. It is altruistic love that seeks what is best for the other. We are urged to love one another in this way. As Jesus came to serve and not to be served (see Mark 10:45), so we find real satisfaction and contentment when we are not focused on ourselves, but the needs of others.
This is counterintuitive to the way the world approaches life. It goes against what our senses often tell us we should do. It is faith-based life. It is walking by the Spirit and not according to the flesh.
In John 13:34 (KJV) Jesus gave us a new commandment that is fully in line with what Paul told the Ephesians. He said, “34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” He stated it again in John 15:12 (KJV) “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
So, we are commanded to love one another. The good news is that God himself is the one who teaches us to do this. Look what we are told in 1 Thessalonians 4:9 (KJV) “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” Titus 2:11–12 (AV) echoes this in sying, “11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;”. And in 1 John 2:27 (AV) we find “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”
We can live in confidence knowing that Father guides us into all truth by His Spirit (see John 16:13) and that He is the one who teaches us. All we do is follow Him as dear children. Looking to Him and trusting in Him to be the source of our love for others.
