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(Ephesians 4:20 – 22)

Introduction

A Tale of Two Cities

These two cities, one ancient and the other modern have a lot of things
in common.
1. They promote hedonistic lifestyles, that is, the pursuit of pleasure
is the only thing worth doing.
2. They legalised prostitution
3. Centres of occult
4. Serve as rest and recreation stops to nearby military bases
5. Promote idolatry
6. Centres of commerce
7. Labelled as Sin City
The ancient city of Ephesus had a lot in common with Las Vegas.
They are both centres of immorality. Verses 20 – 22 remind the
Ephesians of the prevalent moral decay in the city. The previous
verses provide a background of the moral issues facing the Ephesians
believers. Paul is encouraging them to move on with their spiritual
lives amid the prevailing moral decadence. Paul is encouraging them
to leave behind the moral corruption that characterised the city of
Ephesus, which you can see had parallels with Las Vegas.
The challenge is can you grow spiritually amidst an environment of
moral decay and spiritual rottenness?

Learning Christ (v. 20 – 21)

Paul is reminding the Ephesian Christians of their conversion
experience. The previous verses are recollections of their lives before
they became followers of Christ. Paul is using that life as reference to
what they should be. Their previous lives in Ephesus is fraught with
moral decadence because that is the character of that city. Like Las

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Vegas, Ephesus thrives in sin and immorality. It is quite a challenge
for the Ephesian Christians because of the negative influence of the
city.
Trust
It is important to have trust, that is, faith in Christ if we seek to learn
about Him. Learning Christ begins with head knowledge about Jesus
Christ. When we have gained enough knowledge of him, then we
reach a point where we make a conscious decision whether to trust
Him and be redeemed or ignore Him and be condemned. Trust in
Christ is the key to salvation. Acts 19:17 – 20 chronicles the
Ephesians’ experience of redemption when they believed, that is, put
their trust in Jesus as a result of the exorcism attempted by the seven
sons of Sceva as narrated in Acts 19:13 – 16.
Trust is the main ingredient in knowing Christ. Once we have put our
faith and trust in Him as a Saviour and Redeemer, our minds and
hearts open up to a better understanding of God’s Word. It brings new
perspective and insight.
Once, we have placed our faith and trust in Christ, the Holy Spirit
gives us divine inspiration (2 Peter 1: 21), because He is the dispenser
of all biblical truth. Needless to say, without the faith and trust,
without the presence of the Holy Spirit, learning Christ is not possible.
Unbelievers try to know Him but they always end up with
preposterous theology. Theologians of the liberal persuasion arrive at
teachings that are contrary to God’s truth. Amongst them are Paul
Tillich – who redefined faith as the state of being ultimately concerned
and Reinhold Niebuhr, who said that Evil is not to be traced back to
the individual but to the collective behaviour of humanity. This
statement absolves man’s responsibility from his sin and therefore will
lead him away from the need of a personal Saviour. Sin is a personal
matter and must be dealt with personally. This tells that all the head
knowledge about Christ is useless without the heart knowledge
through faith and trust

Teachings
Though the verse we are taught by Him, it does not mean that we are
taught by Jesus personally but through pastors and teachers. He did
not preach and teach to us, but He is being preached and taught about.
He is the object of the inspired preaching and teaching and this adds to
our learning Christ. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 says the same thing that we
are taught by God. God’s teaching is not really the issue here for His
lessons are within reach through His Word. The challenge is, are you

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teachable, do you have the desire to study God’s word and increase
your knowledge of Him? Do you yearn to know more about the
unfathomable God and grow in His knowledge in truth? Are you
willing to open your heart and mind and expand your learning?
Knowing more about God is not only an enrichment of our head
knowledge but it also cleanses and purifies our hearts. Studying His
Word makes our lives fuller, richer and more meaningful. Colossians
3:16 states the richness of His Word
In fact, it is commanded by God in Psalm 78:5, 6. Growing in the
knowledge of His Word is growing in Him. As you absorb more of
God’s Word and apply it to your life, it strengthens you. The principle
of displacement applies here. The more you are enriched by His
teaching, the lesser you will care about the earthly trappings. Nothing
else matters to you but to grow more in the Lord. Tell me, if you are
mature in Christ, would you care about the latest casino offerings and
games in Las Vegas or the Sky City for that matter? Will it matter to
you?

Truth
In John 18:38, Pilate the Roman governor of Palestine asked Jesus,
what is truth, after the Lord answered that those on the side of truth
are with Him. It is a reply when Christ said that His kingdom is not of
this world. Isn’t it ironic that Pilate asked the embodiment of truth
about truth when he succumbed to the lies perpetrated by the Pharisees
though he recognised the innocence of Jesus.
What is the truth declared by Christ?
• Integrity – Jesus Christ is marked by truth because of His divine
nature. As God, He has all the attributes of a deity, one of which
is truth. He does not have the capacity to lie and is therefore
absolutely trustworthy in all He says. He cannot lie and will not
lie, because that is not His nature. In the truthfulness of Christ,
those who seek to follow Him and grow in Him must long to be
people of integrity. We cannot hope nor aspire to be His
follower of we constantly distort the truth.
• Incompatibility – Jesus Christ is grossly incompatible with
Satan, the father of all lies. (John 8:44) Satan is always deceitful
and full of trickery (Genesis 3; 2 Corinthians 11:3 – 4 ). The
gospel of Jesus Christ is about salvation that can be had through
Him. Satan hates that absolutely. He tries every trick, every
deception to lure man away from that truth of redemption.

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 • Immutability – One of the attributes of God is constancy. The
unchanging nature of God makes Him incapable of suddenly
shifting from good to evil, from truthful to a liar, from God to a
lesser being. (Heb 13:8 Jesus is the same yesterday today and
forever) The principle is, if God’s initial nature is truthful and
He is unchanging , then He will never change to become a liar.
It is just impossible.

Application
Learning Christ is a life-long quest. It is a never ending commitment to
know Him and be like Him. It is not hard to understand why Paul is
pressing on this point to the Ephesian believers. Ephesus was a toxic
environment to be a believer with all the prevailing hedonistic and
debauched lifestyles. If you look closely New Zealand’s permissive and
politically correct society is as perilous to righteous living as Ephesus. As
in Ephesus and Las Vegas, NZ has also legalised prostitution. New Age
disciplines like yoga, Transcendental Meditation, Feng Shui are becoming
mainstream.
Paul’s admonition to know more about Christ after you have trusted Him is
a call to fortifying our spiritual resolve to withstand the onslaught of these
influences. How strong is your faith and conviction to resist the wiles of Sin
City? The best defence is to build it up from the inside, from within, from
your soul. How do increase your knowledge of the Messiah?
• Daily meditations of the Bible by developing the habit of reading
His Word and seek ways to apply it to your life.
• Pray. Present God your thanksgiving and your requests. Our God is
an omniscient and omnipresent God who hears all our prayers all
the time.
• Fellowship with other believers. The church is intended to help
believers strengthen one another. There is no substitute.
Know more about Christ. Learn more about the Messiah You’ll never go
wrong. It is a worthy endeavour.

Leaving Corruption (v 22)

Verse 22 is a reminder that their new faith is incompatible with their
previous lives. The hedonism, debauchery and corruption of Ephesus
are not acceptable at all. They are sinful while the Messiah is without
sin. They are of the devil and not of the Lord. They cannot co-exist in
the believer’s heart. Corruption and cleanness cannot occupy the same
space. It is either on or the other.
Turnabout
Paul’s is to put of the old self. To turnabout, a U-turn, from the
previous lives they lead in this sinful city. The Ephesians lived a
depraved life. They never had a moral compass because sin as God

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sees it is accepted as normal in Ephesus. That city was the centre of
occult worship. Prostitution is a ritual practice practiced by the men on
temple priestesses. It is ironic because Artemis or Diana is supposed
to be a virgin yet she was also the goddess of fertility. Artemis was the
chief goddess of the city. The temple of Diana dominated all aspects
of life in Ephesus, including their moral and social values.
Paul made a similar appeal to Timothy, the youthful pastor of the
church at Ephesus in 2 Timothy 2:22 (Flee the evil desires of youth,
and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who
call on the Lord out of a pure heart.) It is a necessary call that needs
to be repeated. The Ephesians have had the evil influence of this
demonic goddess all their lives and it is about time that they move
away from it.

Tarnished
The passage in 2 Timothy 2:22 again comes to mind. Ephesus was
such a vile and immoral city that its corrupt ways was influencing the
lives of the believers. They have to get away from it. They are in
Ephesus but they should not be of Ephesus. Their old selves, their
previous lives were marked with corruption. Apart from what we have
covered about the evil of Ephesus, let us look at the corrupt practices
in Ephesus that tarnished the previous lives of the believers. Ephesus
was the fourth or fifth largest city at the time of Paul. It was very
influential in the same way that New York, Los Angeles, London or
other major cities affect the lives of others beyond their borders. The
impact of LA is very visible in the hip hop culture that is so pervasive
today. New York and London are financial centres which impact the
global economy.
Ephesus boasted the largest building in the world at the time, the
Temple of Artemis. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient
world. Today only the pyramids in Egypt survive. Ephesus was the
center of feminism, environmentalism, paganism, the sexual
revolution, an excessive love of prosperity, astrology, and anti-
Christian fervor. They seem like modern day issues.
• Feminism – the chief goddess, Artemis, was introduced by
Ephesia the queen of the Amazons. The Amazons was a tribe of
fierce women warriors who were man-haters
• Environmentalism – Artemis was also the goddess of
wilderness, wild animals and of the hunt. The temple was only
her shrine. She lived in nature wherever there’s life. An affront
to the environment was seen as disrespect.

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 • Paganism – Artemis was also the goddess of the moon. Her
crescent symbol is still present today amongst the Moslems.
Rituals, sacrifices and offering were made in her honour. Acts
18:19 is a narrative of how the Ephesians burned their scrolls
which was used in their practice of sorcery.
• Sexual revolution – we have covered the ritual prostitutions of
the temple priestesses. It also covers the feminist values of the
time.
• Excessive love of prosperity – In Acts 19, a silversmith named
Demetrius incited a riot because they are losing money resulting
from numerous Ephesians which no longer buy the silver
shrines of Artemis. The temple also functioned as a bank,
loaning out money to worshippers. Their capital base was from
temple worshippers bringing their money to the temple for
safekeeping.
• Astrology – Artemis was also the goddess of birth and fertility.
In their belief, she determined the fate of men
• Anti-Christian fervour – Every in Ephesus were contrary to
Christian ethos and values
What a city!!! It was indeed the sin city. Paul had every right to
appeal to the Christians in Ephesus

Treachery
The Ephesians lived lives that are full of sinful deceit without realising
it. How’s that. The Ephesian society’s norms are sinful on the eyes of
the God. They have a different moral and social framework and
values. They did not have the same moral compass as we do. Let’s
look at two key points highlighting the devil’s treachery amongst the
unbelieving Ephesians.

Liberal Lifestyle
Ephesus is primarily Greek and their moral and social values are very
permissive. The Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World states that
“The exclusive emphasis on procreation rather than love, in a society
that otherwise tended to devalue women, made most Greek marriages
unromantic. It was considered entirely appropriate for husbands to
find sexual adventure outside marriage—with SLAVES or
PROSTITUTES, or in the homosexual pursuits in male gathering
places” Furthermore, the same source said that Female homosexuality
was also an approved practice in some locales, at least in the 600s–
500s B.C.E. Extant verses by the poets SAPPHO and ALCMAN

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 document sexual feelings and acts between aristocratic young women
on the Aegean island of LESBOS and SPARTA, both around 600
B.C.E.
That is exactly where our society is heading, Ecclesiastes 1:9 comes to
mind, what has been will be again, what has been done will be done
again; there is nothing new under the sun.
The Ephesians lived sinful lives because they were clouded by the
deceptions of their social and moral norms. How would they know
that their marital practices were immoral, the answer is when Paul
pointed it out through the word of God.

Warped Worship
The Ephesians were devout and religious, the main attraction in
Ephesus was the temple of Artemis, one of the 7 wonders of the
ancient world. That temple was a centre of pilgrimage and worship
and they were serious about it. We have covered the ritual prostitution
amongst the temple priestess. It is hard to comprehend within the
Judeo-Christian framework the idea of having relationship with a
prostitute as a form of worship. But that is exactly the wiles of the
devil. They were deceived into committing sin while being religious.
Artemis was the goddess of fertility, moon, hunting, and nature.
Ephesians spent time and money appeasing her through their temple
sacrifices and offerings. It was for this reason that the silversmith
Demetrius incited a riot. His business was slowing down due to the
rise of Christianity in Ephesus. He had all the selfish reasons to get rid
of Paul. The Ephesians were conned into worshiping a false God,
unlike the true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Application

Conclusion –