EPHESIANS 5:3-4 - NOT A HINT

Not a Hint

Lord, forgive my generation

For tolerating improper behavior,

For taking lightly your warnings

And, thus, disdaining our Savior.

Lord, let us return to purity

In our actions and our speech;

And through this, strengthen our testimony,

And, thus, extend our reach.

“But among you there must not be 
even a hint of sexual immorality,

or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, 
because these are improper for God’s holy people. 
Nor should there be obscenity, 
foolish talk or coarse joking, 
which are out of place,

 but rather thanksgiving.”

Ephesians 5:3-4 (NIV)

pŏrnĕia⁴²⁰² – harlotry (include. adultery and incest); fig. idolatry: fornication

fornication – voluntary sexual intercourse between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman (The New Webster’s Dictionary, Lexicon Publications, New York, 1990.)

ĕutrapĕlia²¹⁶⁰ –witticism, i.e. (in a vulgar sense) ribaldry: - jesting.

ribald – wittily indecent or coarse (The New Webster’s Dictionary, Lexicon Publications, New York, 1990.)

            I have struggled with writing my thoughts on this passage.  It’s easy to jump on the sexual immorality thing and be all self-righteous about purity when the honest truth is that God has protected me from even being in the situation to be tempted. I’m sure He knows me better than I know myself and has decided to shelter me.

            At any rate, before I could preach any sermon on fornication, I would have to remove a beam from my own eye. I know my speech is not always pure. No, I don’t run around cussing out my employees or taking the Lord’s name in vain. However, due to the influence of some close Christian friends, I can make something dirty out of just about any innocent thing that is said. Granted I don’t practice this “art” with just anyone, but there are those certain friends that appreciate off-color humor. The passage above says this is “out of place.” My grandmother would have called it “un-becoming of a lady.”  Basically, it is as wrong as immorality. God doesn’t make distinctions of levels of sin as we often do. To Him, sin is sin; and my sin is as bad as any other.

            Father, thank you for your saving grace. Thank you also for the grace needed to live each day to your glory. Help me to glorify you in my speech and to refrain from saying things that are out of place for your representative. Thank you for your protection and your promise to make a way of escape from temptation (I Corinthians 10:13). Give me the wisdom to take the path you provide.