Ephesians 5 sketch

Ephesians 5	Sketch
5:1,2	Be like you father, sacrificially care for others.
5:3-6	NOT selfishly and foolishly snatching (implies the absence of God, idolatry). God will judge such sub-human living.
5:7-11	You were of darkness, but now you are of light So don't blend with darkness, shine in distinction.
5:12-14	Wake up to receive light that you need in order to shine light in a troubled world.
5:14-17	Don't get 'wasted' Get filled with life by God's spirit in community celebrating revelation of who God is with gratitude.
5:18-21	The result is we learn how to submit to each other so that we grow up to be the lights we were intended to be.
5:22-33	The relationship, like husband and wife, is Christ to the church. Wives in submission to loving husbands show the way in which the church should trust Christ and submit to him.

Again, the dominate message of Ephesians is change. The change is started by God, empowered and guided by God and ends with God. Yet, passage after passage argues for our active engagement with the grace of God such that we grow up. As adopted children of light, we need to counter darkness by taking in and shining out light. The call is to effectual love here and now based on the transcendent and immenint love of God revealed in Christ and moved by his Spirit.