Week 5: Ephesians 5

July 17 & 20

  • What you imitate shapes who you become.

  • Ephesians 5:1-2

  • Walk in love.

  • Ephesians 5:3-7

  • 2 Kings 17:15

  • If you build your life around a lie, you begin to reflect that lie…it becomes who you are.

  • Ephesians 5:5

  • What am I imitating?

  • Walk in the light.

  • Ephesians 5:8

  • We were darkness…now we are light.

  • Ephesians 5:9-14

  • Is there anything in your life that is still in the dark?

  • Walk in the wisdom of the Spirit.

  • Ephesians 5:15-18

  • Being filled with the Spirit is about surrendering control, not losing control.

  • What are you under the influence of? What masters you?

  • Ephesians 5:19-21

  • A Holy Spirit filled community of believers should be joyful, grateful, and united.

  • Ephesians 5:21-33

  • Submission out of reverence for Christ is about who lays down their life first.

  • 2 Kings 17:15

  • What we imitate shapes who we become…we reflect what we worship…we are shaped by what we submit to.

[d]Group questions

  1. Read Ephesians 5 together as a group.

  2. Shannon said, “What you imitate shapes who you become.” Who or what are you most tempted to imitate in your daily life—culture, comfort, control, or Christ? How do you see that imitation showing up in your speech, decisions, or desires?

  3. “We reflect what we worship.” In 2 Kings 17:15, Israel became what they worshiped. How can we recognize if we’ve begun to reflect the emptiness of something we’ve wrongly elevated in our lives? What does it look like to course-correct toward Jesus?

  4. “You were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” Paul doesn’t say we were in darkness, but that we were darkness. How does understanding this deeper identity shift impact the way you live now? Is there an area where God is inviting you to walk fully in the light?

  5. “Be filled with the Spirit…not controlled by lesser things.” What do you tend to turn to when you’re tired, anxious, or stressed? How can you intentionally place yourself under the influence of the Holy Spirit instead?

  6. “Submission is not passivity…it’s proactive sacrifice.” How has the world distorted the idea of submission, especially in relationships and marriage? What would change in your relationships if submission looked more like mutual sacrifice and Spirit-empowered love?