Fragrance - Ephesians 5:1-14

Today we open our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 5 to discover that God has a very high standard for His children. "Be ye therefore followers or imitators of God as dear children. 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 sweet smelling savor."

Now, Paul is applying the gospel to Christian people. He is telling us as God's children how we ought to live. Now, God has a right to tell us how to live; we're His children. I have four children; it is my responsibility to teach them how to live, and not only to teach them, but by the grace of God to try to show them in my own life. And I'm sure all of us as parents realize how far short we fall of being the best examples for our own children to follow. But Paul says here, we have the greatest example possible.

"Be ye therefore imitators of God. Do what God does. Be mimics of God." You say, "Well, how can I mimic God?" Just look at Jesus Christ. "He that hath seen me," said Jesus, "hath seen the Father." This is why it's so important for you to study your Bible. As you read the Gospels, as you see how Jesus Christ lived among men, as you read the Epistles and the book of Acts, we discover how the Holy Spirit of God wants us to be like Christ, to live here on earth as He lived.

Over in 1 John, the apostle says, "As he is, so are we in this world." That's a fascinating thought. As He is now up in heaven, so are we in this world. Now, live up to it. "Be imitators of God as dear children." In the first epistle of John, John tells us, "God is light," and "God is love." Now, Paul has been talking here about living a clean life. "Walk in purity." God is light. Now he says, "Walk in love." God is love. "Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us."

Now, how much did He love us? "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And ye are my friends," said Jesus, "if you do whatsoever I've commanded you." You see, He paid the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He proved His love at the cross. "But God commendeth or proved His love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." You can't get any higher than that.

Now he says, "Walk in love." This is part of walking in purity. This is the motivation for the Christian life. We should so love the Lord Jesus and so love one another that we will do nothing that will hurt the brethren. "Walk in love." He compares the Lord Jesus in verse two to the sweet savor offerings back in the Old Testament Tabernacle, in the temple. The priest would offer these fragrant offerings to the Lord. Paul is saying here that when you walk in love, there is a fragrance about your life.

What a wonderful fragrance there was about the life of the Lord Jesus. How fragrantly He lived. You know, I say this very advisedly and very carefully, but some people don't have a very fragrant life. There just isn't that beauty, that perfume of holiness and of sanctity. Are there not some people with whom you love to be because of the fragrance of their lives? I don't mean the kind of perfume they wear or the kind of aftershave lotion they put on in the morning. I mean their lives, their character, their words; there's a fragrance about them. You enjoy being with them. This is because they're imitating God, they're walking in love.

Mary of Bethany was such a woman. Three times in the New Testament we find Mary of Bethany. In Luke 10, she sits at Jesus' feet and listens to His word. In John 11, she falls at Jesus' feet in prayer and says, "Oh, if You had been here, my brother wouldn't have died." But in John 12, Mary falls at Jesus' feet and she anoints His feet with the fragrant, expensive ointment. And the Word of God says, "and the fragrance filled the house." You see, Mary poured this expensive perfume on the feet of the Lord Jesus, and then she wiped His feet with her hair. And of course, the fragrance of the perfume stayed on her hair, and as she walked through the house, she carried with her the fragrance of the sacrifice. That's what Paul's talking about.

Oh, I wonder if we're carrying the fragrance of the Lord Jesus Christ in our homes. When father comes home in the evening after a hard day at work and driving down the expressway and the traffic has been bad and the drivers have just been terrible. And does he hit the front door with fragrance? Does he come in with fragrance of joy and peace and happiness? Or does he come barging through like a bull in a china shop? And mother's been had all day with the responsibilities and washing and cleaning and someone broke a dish and someone turned over a plate. And all the problems we've had, I wonder if mother spreads the fragrance. And how about the children? Yes, you had a hard day at school. And the teacher didn't quite understand you and you were scolded for something you didn't really do. Do you come home with fragrance? I think the Lord is saying to us here, that we as Christians have the privilege of being fragrant in Christ by walking in love.

Now, the opposite of fragrance is odor, smell. You'll recall that when Lazarus was there in the tomb, having been buried for four days, Jesus said, "Roll away the stone." And Martha spoke up and said, "Why, he's been dead for four days. And by now he smells." But when the Lord Jesus Christ raised him from the dead, the odor disappeared because now he was alive. And once he got rid of those grave clothes, the odor was changed in the house. And Mary added to the fragrance of Lazarus, the fragrance of her sacrifice. That's what Paul is talking about. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to spread abroad His fragrance. Over in 2 Corinthians 2, Paul tells us that we are the fragrance of Christ wherever we go.

Now, he tells us in verses three and four and five, that there are some things that will not go with the fragrance of Christ. "Fornication, and all uncleanness," now these are the sexual sins. There's a lot of this today, uncleanness. You can't sell an automobile today, you can't write an ad for an automobile without a pretty girl being in the picture. You can't sell anything today without someone in the picture who's half naked. Magazines and movies and even music today is catering to that which is sensual. And Paul says, "Now, if you're going to have the fragrance of Christ about your life, if you're going to walk in love, there won't be fornication. You're not going to break your marriage vows. And there won't be uncleanness. There won't be covetousness." These things go together. "Grasping after things. Let it not be once named among you as become a saint."

I like that word, "saint." Set apart ones. You're different. "Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient or suitable." Now, Paul's not saying we should be grouches. Paul had a sense of humor. Paul knew what it was to laugh. He knew what it was to be joyful. There's nothing wrong with a good joke. But Paul is saying, filthy humor needs to go. Dirty humor, shady stories. These words and things that are not suitable to the Christian life. But rather the giving of thanks. The giving of thanks.

"For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, and covetousness is idolatry." A man may not have an image in his living room, but he may worship his bank account or his job or his title or his position, or his material gain or his social status. Now, Paul says, "Anyone who belongs to these categories: a whoremonger, an unclean person, a covetous man, these people will not have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." He's talking here about rewards.

Now, if you'll turn in your Bible back to Galatians 5, you'll find that he makes a similar statement here. In Galatians 5, beginning in verse 19, Paul lists the works of the flesh, the way sinful people live. "Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murder, drunkenness, revellings and such like." Now, Galatians 5:21, "Of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Now, the word "do" there means practice. Anyone who habitually practices these sins is not going to get into the kingdom of God.

Now, Paul is saying something entirely different over here in Ephesians 5:5. He's saying those who occasionally do these things are going to lose their inheritance. Now, you see, David committed adultery. He didn't lose his salvation. Peter lost his temper and cursed, he didn't lose his salvation. It's possible for a Christian to sin, and he's not going to lose his salvation. 1 John 2, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Now, Paul is saying in Ephesians 5:5, that if you want to lose your reward, if you want as a Christian to lose your inheritance, sin. Sin is a great thief, sin is deceitful, sin robs God's people of their reward. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back, He's going to take us to glory. All of His blood-bought children are going to go to heaven. We have been purchased by His blood. We were not saved by our good works, therefore we cannot be lost by our bad works. But we can lose our reward. 1 Corinthians 3 makes it very clear that some Christians are going to be saved as by fire. Lot was this way. Lot lost everything. He lost his testimony. He lost his witness. He lost his family. He lost his purity. He lost his reward.

Now, Paul warns us in verse 6, "Let no man deceive you with vain words." Don't let anyone say, "Well, you're saved, you can do these things. Then come and ask the Lord to forgive you." Oh, no. No, no. 1 John says, "If anybody deliberately, habitually practices sin, he has never really been born again." When a person who has been born again, he has a new nature down inside, and he does not want to do these things.

Now, "Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things, cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." That's the unsaved people. Ephesians 2, he talks about "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." You see, he says to His children, "Don't you do these things. These things are not becoming of my family. My family does not act like this. We don't do that in my family," says God. Now, if you do these things, "I shall have to spank you. And you will lose your reward. I won't throw you out of the house, but I won't let you have the privileges and the glories and the blessings that I wanted to give you."

"Don't let anyone deceive you. Be not ye therefore partakers with them." Here he's warning the Christian to be separated from sin. You see, there are two families in this world. There are the children of disobedience. There are the children of God. The devil is at work in the lives of the children of disobedience. Ephesians 2:3. The Holy Spirit of God is at work in the children of God. "For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Philippians 2:12.

Now, says Paul, "Don't become partners with them." You are in the world, but you are not of the world. You must witness to the world, but you dare not walk with the world. He's talking about separation. That word "partakers," literally means to have in common. "Don't you therefore try to have anything in common with them." In 1 Timothy 5:22, Paul says, "Be not partakers of other men's sins." Don't make it easy for somebody else to sin.

Now, Revelation 18:4, God calls to His people in the city of Babylon, He says, "You come out of her, don't be partakers with her of her wicked deeds." You see, we are partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4. We are partakers of the divine promise. Ephesians 3:6. We are partakers of Christ's suffering. 1 Peter 4:13. We are partakers of His holiness. Hebrews 12:10. We are partakers of the heavenly calling. Hebrews 3:1. And someday we shall be partakers of His glory. 1 Peter 5:1. Therefore, "be not partakers with the things of the world." Separation. Don't have any fellowship with them. But rather reprove them.

You see, Paul says, "It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret." Our newspapers and magazines today are filled with what's going on in the secret, lurking, dark places of this world. It's wicked. "But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. For whatsoever doth make manifest is light." When the light shines in, says Paul, the darkness has to go. "Therefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Our Father, we thank Thee that the light has come into our hearts. Now, help us not to fellowship with darkness, help us not to compromise with sin. Help us to walk in love and walk in the light as the children of God, imitating our Heavenly Father. For we pray in our Savior's name. Amen.