Day 27 - Things To Do (part 2) by Pastor Philip Olubakin: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Be Imitators of God — Walk in Love

Ephesians 5:1-2

Be ye followers of God as dear children. Imitate God. Copy him. Walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us.

This is the one thing the church needs to hear the most right now: love one another. How can someone pray in tongues for twelve hours straight and still be keeping malice in the same room where the prayer is happening? You prayed for twelve hours — and God still couldn't find the malice in you. That is how tightly you are holding it.

Jesus said the world would know we are his disciples by our love for one another. Yet bitterness, hatred, and gossip thrive in church circles. Bloggers feed on conflict between believers. This is draining the energy out of the body of Christ.

Walk in love. Not uniformity — genuine love. If someone offended you, call them first. Don't take it to a ring light.

Circumspect Living — Be Predictable

Ephesians 5:15-17

Walk circumspectly. The word means predictably. Your wife should be able to say where you are. Your family should know your movements. If you are not here, you are there. If you are not there, you are somewhere people expect. There are people whose whereabouts cannot be accounted for — they walk anyhow. The Bible says that is not how believers walk.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit, not with wine. Both are spirits. Both produce a kind of joy and excitement. But the Holy Spirit's joy does not fade with a hangover. Speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs — minister to yourself. Speak God's word to yourself. It will pull you out of depression, out of every low moment, faster than anything else.

Marriage: God's Order

Ephesians 5:22-28

Verse 21 — submitting yourselves one to another — is addressed to the church generally, not specifically to married couples. When Paul shifts to speak to wives and husbands, he begins a specific section with new addressees.

Wives, submit to your own husbands. Not to all men — to your own husband. The husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church.

Then Paul turns to husbands: love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.

He did not tell husbands to enforce their wives' submission. He told husbands to love sacrificially. That is the kingdom order of marriage.

Men are naturally inclined toward self. God is asking men to walk against that nature. Think of your wife. Consider your wife. Everything that is good for you is good for her. If rest is good for you after church, it is good for her too. You do not come home and go to sleep while she goes straight to the kitchen after the same long church day.