“For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Ephesians 5:5 NKJV
Reflection: how can we lose our inheritance to the kingdom of heaven?
In 2002, at around 30 years old, the princess of Norway decided to give up her royal duties, including being second in line to the throne of Norway, for love and to pursue her own path in life. She married a “commoner”, had 3 children and started up her own business. She is by no means the first to give up royalty, for various reasons, but her action was questioned in the small of Norway where many still admire, even adore, the royal family. Royalty is not something you can aspire to become and achieve, be voted into by the people, or even buy your way into with power and wealth. You have to be born or married into such a position. So, most people of the country were shocked, wondering how the princess could just trade off such an admired inheritance of royalty in the kingdom of Norway for a commoner’s life. But, let me ask you,
Are many Christians giving up their eternal inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for a few years enjoying the world?
Or, perhaps even more importantly, do we even know how we might be trading off our eternal inheritance without knowing? In our focus verse today, Paul gives three characteristics of someone doing so, which we will look at. But let’s first start with dispelling the idea that this is not relevant to us. It is very relevant, as he is still addressing the saints in Ephesus, and he ends with the following statement “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”
Ephesians 5:6 NKJV. Ok, so what are the three specific characteristics of concern? Let’s read it once again.
“For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Ephesians 5:5 NKJV.
The first one, “fornication”, is pretty straight forward to understand. It is sexually immoral behavior, and specifically prostitution and indulging in unlawful sexual intercourse outside of marriage. The second one, of being “unclean”, is a bit more difficult to understand. The word unclean here is typically associated with “unclean spirits”, which of course is covered quite a bit in the bible. The word also traces back to levitical law, of being unclean, of which we can read and see a long list of things that is unclean to the Lord. But for us who live in the new covenant made in the blood of Christ, we need to perhaps pay more attention to the final meaning of the word unclean, which is “in a moral sense: unclean in thought and life”. As we looked at yesterday, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict us of such uncleanliness, to repent, and to be cleansed. Paul also wrote to the Corinthians, “For you are a temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be My people” Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you” II Corinthians 6:16b-17 NKJV.
The third characteristic that Paul writes about in our focus verse, that will forfeit the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven is to be “covetous”. This is a tricky one and a big problem, especially in our society which the “worship” of things, money and power is so common. Even admired. So what is coveting? It really has two meanings 1) eager to have more, esp. what belongs to others, and 2) being greedy. Wow. Do we see a lot of this around us, even among Christians? Even by the churches themselves, who are ever asking for more? Many churches even use the language that the more you give, the more you will be blessed, or something similar, which is what Paul warns about. This is very serious. As Paul stated, “Let no one deceive you with empty words,” Ephesians 5:6a NKJV.
Not sure about you, but I do not want to give up, to trade off my inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let us all self reflect here, and ask the Holy Spirit to point out any area of our lives that needs repentance and change.
