Sermon text: Ephesians 4:17-24
This week we arrive at a sin in Galatians 5 that is translated in several different ways. The original Greek word is “aselgeia.” The King James Version uses the word, “lasciviousness.” Then that gets defined as “filthy or wantonness.” We get other uses too. Our NIV translation uses “debauchery.” The same Greek word is then translated “sensuality” in the passage in Ephesians we are going to examine this morning. Then Eugene Peterson's Message takes the meaning of the word further by calling it a “stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage.” That is definitely a stretch from the literal meaning of the word, but it does get at the heart of it. I perhaps most prefer translating the term “outrageousness.”
Now just to be clear, there is clearly a sexual nature to this sin carried out in the outrageous nature of sexuality gone wrong. We talked about this last week when we discussed sexual immorality, but this outrageousness does not just take sexual forms in our hearts and minds. As Peterson's translation makes evident, it also includes a whole host of other mental and emotional garbage.
This morning then I want us to look at a passage from Ephesians 4 that I think illustrates the effect and pervasiveness of this sin. I want to call our problem foolish thinking and shallow emotions. Let's begin though by looking at God's word on this.