Ephesians 5:5
5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Again, if we only read parts of this thought, we will miss the point. It is easy to look at the phrase in the middle that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, well…that’s all of us at some point in our lives, isn’t it? Maybe some days we still display this type of behavior. But then we think about the fact that salvation is not by works, and these are works, or deeds. So, what is Paul talking about here? He is talking about idolatry. Webster’s defines idolatry as:
“the worship of a physical object as a god, or immoderate attachment or devotion to something”
If you worship something or someone other than God, its idolatry. Do you worship yourself? Your image? Your car? Our pastor teaches that worship comes from the word “worth” ship. How much is something worth to you? How much time do we spend on something: washing our car, dusting our collection, eating food?
Looking up “inheritance” it is worth noting that inheritance was a big deal back in the day. We saw Jacob actually trick his father into blessing him with his brother’s inheritance. The inheritance of a child was the birthright, bestowed from the father. It was something the child looked forward to. It was an honorary gift that was sometimes withdrawn or reassigned based on a child’s actions throughout their life.
So too is our inheritance from God. As we are born into His Kingdom, our birthright is an inheritance in Heaven. We see this in Psalm 37:18 The LORD knows the days of the blameless, And their inheritance will be forever.
The point here, once again, is our heart condition. We might look at these things as simply actions or the way we behave, but what truly matters is why. Why does someone act this way? Where our heart is, our actions will follow. This is why Paul says that people who act this way are not saved, are not worthy of the inheritance of the Lord, because they are not seeking Him out.
For those of us who are saved, we must remember that this does not terminate for us. Rather, we have an opportunity here as well. Certainly, we will continue to act sinfully (hopefully less and less every day) but it will happen nonetheless. Are we striving to be a better follower of Christ? He told us about how we add to our inheritance in Heaven, Matthew 6:19-21 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Who or what do we serve? What in our life takes precedence over God? If Jesus showed up and told you to follow Him, just like He did to the disciples, would you also just drop everything and follow, or would you say, “hold on a minute, I have to just do this one thing?”
What do you devote worth to?
