Not of This World – Part 4

Review 

Earlier this month, we started a series titled “Not of This World.”  

The title represents the mindset that every person who calls Jesus Christ Lord and Savior should hold. 

Because not only has Christ saved us from the failures of this world, but He has made us naturalized citizens of a heavenly nation that is not subject to this world’s chaos. 

• Colossians 1:13 (ESV):13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 

Ephesians as a Road Map 

Paul’s letters to churches in the first century are guides that help us understand the realities of our lives as contemporary superheroes.  

And part of that reality is that though we have superpowers, we still face challenges. 

He explains this in great detail in the letter he writes to the church of Ephesus. 

In this series, we’ve been particularly focused on the second half of the letter, which we’ve divided into seven segments, each titled with themes from the superhero and sci-fi fantasy world. 

The first segment we introduced was titled: 

• Learning How to Sky Walk:  
• In which we explained the biblical concept of being seated in heaven while walking on earth. 

The second segment we introduced was titled:  

• Avengers Assemble
• Borrowing language from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was a call away from our screens and a call to join forces with fellow believers to save the world from evil. 

The third segment we introduced was titled: 

• Close Encounters
• It was inspired by the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And it explained how — as heroes from a heavenly world — we live each day on earth in a close encounter with a world that is unspiritual, ungodly, and materialistic. 
• And while the temptations of that world are real, what we learned in this segment is that God’s Word offers a roadmap for navigating them in victory. 

The fourth segment we introduced was titled: 

• Honey, where’s My Super Suit?
• In this segment, we discussed how our mindset is a kind of clothing. And when we’re wearing the right mind, it becomes a kind of super suit that powers our lives. 

Which leads us to the segment we’ll be discussing today. Segment number five. It’s titled:   

• We Draw Our Power from The Son

Imitation is the Recommendation 

Ephesians 5:1 (ESV): 1 And Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  

Ephesians 5:2 (ESV): 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  

John 14:9 (ESV):9 . . . Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 

1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV): 1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.  

• Imitating God means imitating Christ, means imitating people who follow Christ.
• Discipleship is Christ being formed in me while God uses my life to form Christ in someone else.

Identification with the High Calling 

Ephesians 5:3 (ESV): 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.  

Ephesians 5:4 (ESV): 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.  

Stay Away from Kryptonite  

Ephesians 5:5 (ESV): 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 

• One: Our behavior on earth affects how we are rewarded in heaven 

Ephesians 5:6 (ESV): 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.  

Ephesians 5:7 (ESV): 7 Therefore do not become partners with them;  

Let Your Light Shine 

Ephesians 5:8-14 (ESV): 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”  

Ephesians 5:15-16 (ESV): 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  

Submission: The Neglected Superpower 

Ephesians 5:17 (ESV): 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.    

Ephesians 2:1–2 (ESV): 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—  

Ephesians 5:18 (ESV): 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,   

Ephesians 5:19-20 (ESV): 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,  

Ephesians 5:21 (ESV): 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.  

Ephesians 5:22-33 (ESV): 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.  

Ephesians 6:1-9 (ESV):  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 5 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. 9 Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.  

Coerce: persuade(an unwilling person) to do something by using force or threats. 

Romans 13:1–2 (ESV): 1Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.