Ephesians 5 - A Life That Smells Like Love: Walking in Light

What does it mean to have a fragrant offering to God? That’s what we’re going to talk about today in Ephesians 5.

Well, it’s Ephesians 5. Hi, this is Jill from the Northwoods, talking about the Bible one small chapter at a time. We’re going to see how Paul invites us into this life of holiness and love, light, mutual submission, and fragrance. We’re going to figure that one out.

When we talk about all this practical advice that Paul is giving now—like I said, we started out very theological, and now we are getting into practical, profound advice. He is giving advice to real people at a real time, facing a culture that is against them. Much like, you know, there are varying degrees of cultures against you, but we have one, even in the United States, of a culture that is against us.

What do we do? How do we live our lives? And sometimes, when we think about it, we either give up—oh, I just can’t, I don’t want to be that person—or we go in a direction that is off-putting. So finding a place where we can follow what God told us to do, while at the same time being a loving human being, how do we get in there?

So Paul begins to tell us to imitate God as beloved children. You see kids—they dress up like dad or mom. They try to imitate what they see around them. That’s what he’s saying. Look at your parent, and as beloved children, try to be more like them.

God has adopted us. Adoption was a big deal. That meant you got everything—the whole kit and caboodle. You’re dearly loved. We’re sealed, stamped as being owned by God. And so we walk in love, just like Christ loved us and gave Himself for us—a fragrant offering and sacrifice.

That’s a difficult phrase. We don’t really understand it because we don’t do anything like this now. The phrase “fragrant offering” goes back to the Old Testament sacrificial system. A burnt offering was said to be a pleasant aroma. Smoke rises, and the scent was pleasing to God.

Paul is saying that we should live our lives like Christ sacrificed for us. When we live our lives, it should be a sweet-smelling offering. God is going, “Oh, look—good job,” or “Ooh, that was a real stinker.” How do we live? How do we love? How do we lay our lives down for each other?

Paul gets very practical. Sexual immorality, impurity, greed, filthy talk—these should have no place among God’s people. These aren’t minor issues. They distort the soul, damage the community, and open doors to deeper darkness. Even humor and “small” compromises corrupt hearts and relationships.

Darkness spreads quietly. Small sins fracture communities. Thanksgiving, gratitude, and contentment push darkness out.

Paul warns against idolatry—not just statues, but materialism, envy, self-centeredness. Those who persist in these things without repentance have no inheritance in God’s kingdom. Don’t be deceived by empty words. Come out of the darkness and into the light.

“You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” Walk as children of light. Light exposes sin—not to shame, but to heal. What stays hidden festers. What comes into the light can be restored.

“Awake, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” We were asleep in sin. Now it’s time to wake up.

We are told to live wisely and make the most of our time. We have more free time than any generation before us. How are we using it? Paul contrasts drunkenness with being filled with the Spirit. Instead of foolish living, we are marked by joy, gratitude, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

Then comes mutual submission—submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Submission is humility, service, putting others first.

Wives are called to respect their husbands, and husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loved the church—giving everything. That’s not domination. That’s sacrifice. Loving your spouse is loving yourself. This relationship reflects Christ and the church.

So the question remains: what kind of fragrance is my life offering to God? Are we walking in love and light? Are we living with humility, service, and gratitude?

When we fill ourselves with light, darkness has no room to grow. The more we fill our lives with God, the easier it becomes to reflect His light in this world.

This week I’m going to meditate on what kind of fragrance my life is offering to God.

Are we walking in love, in light? Are we showing respect and sacrifice, and all of that? How are we actually—oh, I don’t know—treating our lives so that when God gets a whiff of it, is He going, “Ah, there’s Jill doing her reflection of Me. It’s not perfect, but she’s getting there”?

And what I’m going to pray about is that we get this idea of submission. There is so much in this world that wants to turn this into something horrible, something evil. Either I’m not going to get married because it’s terrible and it’s about submission, or I’m going to, well, I guess I can’t say anything.

Like I said, people go too far in either direction. We’re supposed to submit to each other. We’re supposed to submit as husbands and wives to each other. We’re supposed to submit to the church and submit to God. A lot of submissions going on.

And I guess I would pray that we look at it, that we understand it better, that we walk into understanding it with a heart of humility and service and putting others in front of us. And then I think we’re going to get it.

Again, if you are worried about it, talk to your pastor about it and get a little bit more information about it, too.

And what I’m going to share with others is this idea that we’re supposed to walk into the light, that we’re supposed to fill our time—our entertainment time, our quiet time, our book reading time, whatever time we have—with lightness. And as we fill it in, it shoves out the darkness.

I think that when we talk about meditation, we talk about the fact that we are filling ourselves up with God instead of emptying ourselves like Eastern meditation. When you empty yourself, remember, like the evil spirit found an empty house, went out and got seven more worse than itself and brought them all into the house.

But when we fill ourselves with God, we are filling ourselves with light. We are not allowing this darkness into our lives. The more we fill ourselves with good things, I think the easier it’s going to be for us to start reflecting God and reflecting His light in this world.

All right, everyone, thanks so much. I appreciate you being out there. I hope you’re having a great time reading the Bible, in whatever form you’re doing it in. But getting into the Bible and understanding it is going to just make every day of our lives better.

You can email me at jill@startwithsmallsteps.com. Love to hear from you. Thanks so much, and have a great day.