Walk Wisely

Introduction

We’re going to read in just a moment in Ephesians chapter 5, beginning in verse 1, Ephesians 5, verse 1. It’s a joy to be with you this morning. I had such a great week last week. I was spent some time in Lufkin, and I won’t try to go through all the connections of people who know many of you, but there were quite a few. I was surprised actually. How many people knew people at Decker Prairie or had some connection here to Decker Prairie? And that’s always one of the fun things about going other places is learning all those connections and making new friends and learning the friends that you have other places as well. So that was a joy to go and to do that and spend some time in the Word of God with brothers and sisters in Christ in the Lufkin area.

But it’s also wonderful to be back here singing songs of praise with you this morning and opening the scriptures together. And so I’ve been looking forward to that, getting back here this morning. and I’m I’m ready and glad we can open scripture together in Ephesians chapter 5. We’re continuing a series we’ve been working through, seeking first, coming from the thought or the concept in the Sermon on the Mount, the words of Jesus Himself in Matthew 5 through 7, and then kind of conceptually working through other ideas. And so we started there, we talked about considering what we’re building in our life. Are we building for ourselves or are we building for the Lord, considering our ways in Haggai chapter 1? And then last time we talked about the thing that is necessary, what is most necessary in our life.

There’s a lot of good things, but we can become anxious and troubled by a lot of good things, as Jesus pointed out about Martha in Luke chapter 10. Paul uses some imagery in the book of Ephesians that has to do with our walk. This is about daily life. It’s about how we do things, the decisions we make, the actions that we take day to day. And really, the next two sermons are gonna be in this direction. This morning we’re gonna talk from Ephesians about the Christian walk, about seeking first and the way that we walk in our life. And this is maybe you could think more external, more observable, more visible. When people look at me and they see the way I’m living, do they see a life governed by the things of God?

Do they see a life that is seeking first God’s kingdom and God’s ways? Or are they seeing something else? That’s something that I’m going to have to consider and wrestle with. And then next time we’re going to talk a little bit more about kind of internal transformation, setting our minds. And we could do this either direction, but we’re going to talk about kind of the external first, and then looking at the importance of the external and the way that we live, the way that we walk. How do we work on getting there? And of course, that’s going to be on changing our minds, the way that we think. And so that’s what we’re going to spend some time doing next Sunday as we continue on through this idea.

So let’s begin reading in Ephesians chapter 5. Actually, I think it might be two Sundays. So I think I have another gospel meeting next week, then I won’t be here. I’ll be in Tennessee. So sorry about that. It’ll be two Sundays from now. We’ll continue with that in Colossians chapter three. Begin reading with me in Ephesians chapter five and verse one. It says, Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place.

But instead, let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not become partakers with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things they do in secret.

But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Look carefully then how you walk, not as wise, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always, and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

It would have been beneficial this morning really to just read the entire letter, because there’s so much great content that’ll actually filter into what we’re talking about this morning. For example, when we talk about the Christian walk, we can see the antithesis of that in chapter two. In chapter two, we’re learning all sorts of things about who God is and what God is doing. And Paul says this in verse one of chapter two and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. I hope you hear the contrast to that in what we just finished in chapter five.

In chapter five, he’s saying, Don’t get drunk with wine, don’t be filled with wine. That’s debauchery. Don’t follow after the course of the world, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience. Instead, be filled with the Spirit of the Lord. And when you do that, different things are happening in your life. That’s when you’re going to be singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. You’re going to speak to one another, and you’re going to be teaching and admonishing one another. That’s the result of walking in the Spirit of the Lord rather than walking in the spirit of the age. And that’s the contrast that’s being made here by Paul as you transition from chapter two and the way we once walked in darkness into the way we out we now are walking in Christ.

And so really though those bookends from chapter two and then in chapter five is what we’re kind of working toward as we go through some of these other statements of Paul working through the letter. We can go back to chapter four in verse one. There’s a huge transition in the text here. As I already mentioned, chapters one through three are about God. It’s about God’s grace, who God is, what God has done for us, how amazing God is. And when we get to chapter four, Paul now transitions and says, Here’s what you should be doing in response to God. God has done all of this for you. He is resurrected you to new life, and he has seated you in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

And this is by his working and by his power. And based on how amazing he is, now there’s some things we have to think about the way we live. And he demonstrates this by the idea of walking. Right? It’s the way that we walk in life. This is not just coming to something like this on a Sunday morning or coming to a Wednesday night Bible study. Those things are important and they’re good. But what Paul’s talking about here in the letter to the Ephesians is day by day. The decisions we’re making tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon and on Tuesday and on Friday. How are we living each day? Are we living each day and moderating what we’re doing based on who God is and his character and his will?

Or are we living on the Sunday a certain way and then the rest of the week doing things kind of the way we want to do them? This is what Paul wishes to help us understand we need to get rid of in our thinking. Right? And our thinking affects our actions, which we’ll talk about next time. That the concept here is look at what’s happening in your life. Sometimes the best way to figure out that our mind isn’t right is to analyze our actions first. How am I actually walking in life? This is where this is ultimately headed. Right? The concept we’re looking at is walk wisely. That’s the conclusion. That’s where Paul gets toward the end of this context. When I analyze my life, when I look at the things I’m doing, would I say that is wise?

1. Walk in a Manner Worthy of Your Calling

Right? That’s where we want to head here. But we’re going to begin with chapter 4 and verse 1, the calling that comes to those who follow Jesus. We believe Jesus. We think he is the power to salvation, that the blood of Christ forgives sins. Paul says, here’s what you have to do. If that’s what you believe and you want to follow him, you need to walk in a manner worthy of your calling. There’s relational concepts in all of this, but the first one I think that we need to focus on is that this is a response to God. This is a response to the amazing love of Jesus Christ and the love of our Father. All that Paul has said about him and how his power has worked in our lives.

And then when we consider that, he’s saying we need to walk in a way that responds to who God is. That’s the concept of worthiness. Worthiness carries the concept of value, for sure, but also worthiness is about identity. Why does something have value? When I was a kid, I liked to collect baseball cards. And for a long time they really didn’t have a whole lot of value. Now I think maybe they do again. Or maybe for you it’s Pokemon cards or something like that. But you don’t just take a random baseball card and say, hey, I want a bunch of money for this. What do they do first? I mean, they’re gonna identify what is this card. it’s not just that it’s a card, a baseball card or a Pokemon card, or coins might be the same way.

You can have two exact monetary coins. They’re both supposed to be worth a dollar, but actually, one might be worth a hundred dollars and one might be worth five. Coin collectors understand this. You go and you bring it and you try to figure out what is the worth, and it’s based on the identity, what year it was made, or what it’s made of, or when you’re talking about baseball cards, who’s the player, is it their rookie year? I mean, all of these things matter. The identity of that card makes all the difference in terms of its actual worth. And what Paul wants us to see here is that this is wrapped up, who we are is wrapped up in our identity with God. We’re responding to who he is, and so the idea of walking in a worthy manner conveys the concept of identity that we are walking in a way that is appropriate to the call that we have responded to.

So I say I’m following Jesus. When someone looks at me, they see the details of my life, right? They’re looking at the date on the coin or who the player is on the baseball card. Is that something that aligns up with value, with worth? When someone’s looking at my life, do they see someone that is aligning with the principles and the ideas of Jesus Christ? That’s walking in a manner that is worthy and has value. This is relational, not just with God the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, but Paul makes it very clear in the next verse, this has to do with relational aspects to one another because he begins emphasizing things like you do this with humility and gentleness, with patience. And then this one’s just extremely clear, bearing with one another.

If someone looks at my life and they don’t see somebody who’s very humble or gentle or patient or kind, there’s a discrepancy there. You know, that’s looking at the coin that’s supposed to be really valuable, but you see some things that are off. There’s some marks on it, or maybe they said it was one year that was supposed to be very valuable, but you see, no, this is actually a different year. Something’s not right. Walking worthy means I’ve seen the principles and the attributes that are associated with the Son of God, and I am working to recreate myself after the image of the Son of God. And to the extent I’m doing that relates to walking in a worthy manner. And Paul gives us some ways that we can see this, how this operates as you go through chapter four.

Not only is it just the principles of the attributes of humility and gentleness and kindness and all of that, but it’s also sometimes the results of working with people who are part of a congregation or are part of a body. Walking worthy also is about seeking growth. So it’s about relationships, but it’s also how those relationships then produce results. As you continue on in chapter four, there’s a section here about how God, again, has given us things.

He gave us the apostles and prophets, evangelists, shepherd teachers. And the point of this is to equip the holy ones, to equip his people for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ. And then he goes through the section and talks about how every person participates in this, every joint supplies. And the goal of all of this is that we build ourselves up in love and the body grows.

Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean numerical growth. That’s nice, and we all enjoy that, and that’s very visible. Whatever it is you’re doing, whether it’s something like this, a congregation, or some other effort that you’re a part of, you like it when more people want to join that and be a part of it. That’s really nice because that’s a very easy thing to observe and see. But obviously, when it comes to spiritual things, sometimes growth is what’s happening in terms of maturity. And that is actually Paul’s focus here. I don’t think he is not talking about numerical growth, but he is more so talking about the idea of maturity, of growing up into him who is the head, Christ Jesus. In fact, three times in this little section, he talks about the idea of measuring up, right?

Growing in maturity. What we’re doing in a time like this morning, or when we come for Bible classes, yes, it’s nice if other people see what we’re trying to do and they’re drawn to the Lord. We certainly want that. But part of this is I need to be coming every week so that I’m growing. So I’m learning more about Scripture, and I’m learning more about God. And in that process, I’m learning to walk in a way that’s even more in alignment with the things of God. And so every week, as I’m doing this in repetition, I’m learning and I’m growing, and as I’m growing and as you’re growing, we’re growing together. This is what Paul’s talking about here in Ephesians 4. And when this is happening, great things come from that, both personally in our lives, but also congregationally.

As God’s people who are seeking the things of God, who are seeking growth, who are seeking to build our relationships. But then he also gives the negative side of this. We are to walk worthy, but in this effort, he there’s a warning. Just like he said, you know, you remember you used to walk in darkness, following after the ways of the world. That’s this chapter two. But he’s gonna drop back to that here in verse 17 of chapter 4 and says, okay, you’re supposed to be growing and you’re you’re supposed to be measuring up into the stature and the fullness of Jesus Christ, becoming mature, no longer living like children who are tossed to and fro by every wind and wave of doctrine. You know, everything that comes along, you buy into it or you listen to everything that’s said.

That’s not we’re supposed to be growing and not allow those things to happen. We’re appealing to scripture, to truth, not every trend that comes along. Right? So don’t be like that. And then he says, also, no longer walk as the Gentiles do, as the pagans do. There is this continual back and forth that Paul’s working on. And he’s gonna get to the fullness of it at the end of the reading, what we did in chapter 5, that there is a spirit of the world, and then there’s the spirit of God. Which direction am I moving toward? What am I allowing to fill my life? And so what’s happening when I walk worthy is I’m pursuing the things of God, and I’m pursuing the people of God, and I’m seeking growth.

And in the midst of all that, he says, don’t live the way you used to live, essentially, but also don’t live like the Gentiles, like the pagans. And here’s how they live. They’re futile in their thinking. They chase after things that don’t really matter. They’re darkened in their understanding, they’re ignorant. You know, they say a lot of things and they have a lot of ideas, but it’s not based on what’s true. It’s not based on what’s actually real. Right? So this is all in the first few verses of this section, right? 17 and 18 and 19. These people are ignorant, they’re callous, they’re hard hearted, they don’t want to listen. Don’t be like that. That’s not the way to live. And if you’ve learned Christ, you won’t live this way.

So what he tells him in verse 20. But instead, you’ll begin living in ways that are not like how you used to live. And he runs through a list of items there. We’ll come back to that here in just a moment. But the idea is it’s not just that I’m gonna do some good things, but it’s also if I’m gonna walk in a way that is worthy, in a manner worthy of my calling, I’m also going to avoid a lot of things. I’m going to avoid some of the behaviors and the actions that I used to participate in, maybe. Peter says some similar things in 1 Peter. You know, we lived enough of our lifetime walking after the ways of the Gentiles. It’s time to be done with all that.

Time to be done with selfish behavior, with the things that are just appeal to the senses, right? He mentioned sensuality here, just focused on the earthly, focused on the things that are just about self and about the pleasure we can find here. When that is our primary goal, we’ve missed what is the true focus. We’re not seeking first the kingdom. When we seek first the kingdom, then all of these other things will be added, right? That the pleasures that God wants us to have in life and the joys that are in this temporary existence, when we set the kingdom first, those things will all take care of themselves. But when things get out of alignment, we’ve ordered our life poorly, and we’re no longer walking in a way that’s worthy of the calling, all of this becomes futile and worthless.

I also want us to understand that walking wisely isn’t necessarily about just packing everything into our life that is maybe good and right.

From the last sermon. Sometimes we, in an effort to avoid the things that are not good, we just try to start packing so many good things into our life. And in our reading in particular, it makes this point in verse 16: make the best use of the time. And I want us to understand, and we’re going to come back to this here in a minute in another point, that does not mean we just fill our schedules as much as possible. Like I’ve got eight hours of workable day, and I’m just going to pack that to the brim. That can actually be a mistake. It can lead us to be distracted from the things that are our most important, and it’s not actually what that verse is even saying.

It’s about taking the opportunities that we’re given. The word time there is not like chronological time. It’s not like, okay, I’ve got this much time and I’ve got to use it all. That’s that’s not the concept. It’s the word kairos, and the concept there is about a season or an opportunity, making the best of the opportunities that we have. And as we’re walking worthy in a manner that’s worthy of the Lord, what we’re doing is we’re we’re looking for what is going to please God in life. Not what’s going to make us the most busy with good things, but what is actually going to bring pleasure to our Father. What is going to make him have joy over the decisions that we’re making in the things that we’re doing?

2. Be Imitators of God and Walk in Love

The next part of this is in our reading in chapter 5, as we’re considering this walk, walking in a wise way. And this is not just the response to God, but this is more so mimicking deity. So we are supposed to walk in a manner worthy when we look at the Lord and we’re responding to his grace and his love. There’s a certain way we should live because of that. And this is not to earn it or anything like that. We can’t do that. But it is just the proper way to respond to the to the amazing gift that God has blessed us with. Paul then transitions in chapter 5 and says, you should actually be like God. Imitate Him. Don’t just respond to Him, but now you should be working to be like Him in the things that you do.

Therefore, be imitators of God. As beloved children, just like children want to be like their parents. You know, a boy will follow his dad around, or a little girl will follow her mom around. They want to do the things that mom and dad are doing. This is the image. This is the idea. Yes, you want to do things that make your parents proud. You want to do things that honor the things that they’ve done for you, but also you want to be like them. This is what Paul wants us to see here. And so we walk in love, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because walking in love makes us like God. Walk in love, it says in verse 2, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Walking in love, as is pointed out here in the text, through the model of Jesus Christ is sacrificial. It is about seeking the good of others. And so we’ve seen this is again, the walk is external. It’s observable. It’s about how we respond to God, but it’s also about how we treat other people. Just as Christ was loving and sacrificial, and he was willing to do what he did for me and for you, that is the kind of mindset we should have. That in love, we’re seeking the good of others. That’s what seeking the kingdom first is about. What is best, what is good for other people. There’s a contrast here that I think is pointed out throughout a lot of the surrounding text. And we, I think, witnessed this in our world.

Our world sometimes calls something loving when actually it can be just using someone for personal gratification. In reality, it’s just selfishness. And do you see this in the text as we’ve read it? Right? Walk in love, be like Jesus. But here’s what you shouldn’t do. Don’t be sexually immoral or impure or covetous. These things shouldn’t even be named among those who are considered holy ones. That’s what saints are. They’re the holy ones of God. And the reason for that is all of those things are just using other people. It’s not actually for their good. When we are sexually immoral or we’re impure over covetous, all we’re doing is pursuing our own desires at the expense of somebody else. And this is not good for them, no matter how much people in the world want to pretend these things are loving, they are actually just selfish.

They are meant to satisfy personal desire and passion. They’re about not the Lord’s will, which is where this text is going and pursuing that, but it’s about pursuing self will. Walking in love is not about warm, fuzzy feelings. It’s not just about emotions. I mean, those things are nice and they’re good, and hopefully we experience some of those in life. But it’s also a choice. It’s a choice to do what is good and what is best for the people around us. And a kingdom first mentality cannot support inherently selfish actions. This is why Paul warns actually multiple times, even in the immediate context of all of this kind of behavior, and says that people who live this way, right? He says, you can be sure of this.

This is chapter 5 and verse 5, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is an idolater. That means they’re seeking something else first, other than God and his kingdom, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. He’s saying it in the negative form, but what he’s saying is you’re not seeking first the kingdom when this is what you’re doing. You’re seeking first yourself. When I go after self-will or passion and I participate in these things or things like them, he doesn’t necessarily give an exhaustive list. Similar in Galatians 5, with the deeds of the flesh versus the works of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, excuse me, that he says a bunch of things that are actually very similar to this, and he says in other things like this, right?

3. Walk as Children of Light

This is the nature of selfish humanity that they pursue their own things rather than the things of God. And then this is coupled with the idea of walking in love, is coupled with walking as children of light. These are about identity as well. I’m not going to go into that because we talked about it with walking in a worthy way. But they’re also about status. They’re about where you stand. Are you like the Lord? Are you like God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ? Are you living the way that they live with the attributes that they have? Are you walking in the light as He is in the light, as John says in 1 John? If so, you have fellowship with God and with one another.

Walking in the light means you have illuminated darkness. Light and fruit are connected, even in this text. It’s a parenthetical there in verse 9, but it’s it’s kind of an interesting thought. He says, You were darkness. He’s talked about that earlier in the letter, but now you are light in the Lord. You possess light. You are the light of the world, Jesus says in Matthew 5. And so you should go on a hill and you should shine. You shouldn’t cover it and hide it. You should be making your influence known. And the way Paul says this is to walk as children of light. And then he says this in verse 9. For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.

This is a little bit like Romans 12, I think, in some ways. We seek to approve what is good and acceptable, and sometimes that happens by we observe things that are good and true. We see the fruit. I think that’s what’s happening here. When you see the fruit of goodness and rightness and truth, remember the words of Jesus? You will know them by their fruits. When you see good fruit, and when you see true fruit and right fruit, walk there. Follow that path. Walk as children of light. When you see things that are a representation of what is good, that is the place to go. And of course, Paul gives us plenty of material to work through with this. Some of it we’ve already mentioned, but with a part we haven’t read through yet, talks a lot about this as well.

The latter part of chapter 4 has all sorts of things in it, both good and bad, right? Things that are part of the light and things that are part of the darkness. So he says, avoid the unfruitful works of darkness. These things are ignorance, pride, callousness, impurity, greed, jealousy, deceitfulness, corrupt talking, anger, bitterness, slander, clamor. You know what clamor is? Probably not. We don’t ever use that word. It’s from a word that means to cry out. It’s like shouting. You just make a lot of noise and you kind of raise a big stink. That’s really the idea. That’s the concept there. Quarreling is another way to say that. This is how pagans live. This is what Gentiles do. That’s what Paul connects it to here. Not saints, not people who follow the Lord.

This is the walk of people who follow the Prince of the Power of the air, the sons who walk in disobedience. So he says, avoid all that. Instead, he gives some other things that we should be following, right? We’ve already talked about humility and gentleness in chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, and seeking growth earlier in chapter 4. But then he also talks about things like honesty, building people up, kindness, tenderness, forgiveness, and then gratitude. Gratitude’s all over this text. Don’t live in all these impure ways, but actually let there be thanksgiving, he says in verse 4. You know, don’t have filthy talking or foolish talk or crude joking. Instead, be thankful. Show gratitude. I don’t know if it wasn’t for Paul that I would necessarily have connected those things.

Like, you know, don’t be crass and don’t be crude, but actually show gratitude. I it rhymes, that’s kind of nice, but I don’t think I would have connected those things as being opposites. But Paul does, because it’s the mentality of someone who’s walking in the light. Rather than finding problems or talking in a corrupt way, they’re finding ways to build up and encourage. That’s the difference. Avoid walking in the darkness. Instead, walk in the light. And not only that, he doesn’t stop there. He doesn’t just say, don’t walk in the darkness, walk in the light. Walk in the light, and everything will be good. He doesn’t stop there. He says, actually, take no part. Do not partner with them. Instead expose darkness. When we are light, it’s not just that we walk in the light, it’s that we also expose these other behaviors.

We say that’s not right. Whether it’s by the way we live or the words themselves, when we see these other behaviors, the callousness, impurity, pride, jealousy, deceitfulness, whatever it is. That as light, we are filling the darkness. And we are exposing this error. Walk in love and walk as children of light. Light should expose darkness. If it’s not, it’s not a very good light. You’ve probably experienced this before where you’re you’re in a dark room. Usually it’s like a charger or something like that, and there’s like this little blue or green flashing light. And at first, it doesn’t really bother you a whole lot. You know, maybe you lay down and you go to sleep, and then after like five minutes, it’s driving you crazy. Just flashing.

And though it’s like 99% darkness in that room, that one little flashing, teeny tiny little light is the most annoying thing. That’s what light does. It exposes darkness. It doesn’t allow darkness to remain. It illuminates it brings it to light, it makes it visible. And so walking as children of light doesn’t just mean do good things. Yes, that’s part of it. But it’s also about the reality that walking in the light actually exposes darkness. And that’s why darkness hates the light. That’s why people don’t like light when they are darkness. Jesus and John make this point in the early part of the Gospel of John. They resist the light because the light shows who they are. Which then brings me to this last point, which I think is the conclusion here of what Paul’s doing with this image or this idea.

4. Look Carefully How You Walk: Walk Wisely

Look carefully, then. It’s the word therefore in Greek. Look carefully, then, or therefore how you walk. Considering all of this, be careful. Don’t be unwise, but be wise. Think carefully about the way you’re living and the way you’re walking. Wisdom is circumspect. That’s what Paul’s saying here. It thinks deeply about the things that are going on and it looks carefully. It’s deliberate in examining life, examining personal life first. This is Paul’s point in Galatians 6. Even when we found somebody in a trespass or they’ve done something wrong, what’s the first thing we do? We look to ourselves to make sure we’re actually in a good place. Or what does Jesus say? Before I go trying to get that speck out of somebody’s eye, I better be looking and checking my own eye first.

But this is walking in wisdom. This is being circumspected. It’s being careful. That my view is not skewed, that I’m not seeing things incorrectly. Wisdom recognizes the need to reorder my life. This is really the idea of making the best use of the time. Or some of your versions might say redeeming the time. But whatever time we have left, let’s make sure we use it well. We take those opportunities that are there before us, knowing that the days are evil. There’s all sorts of things around us that can pull us away and distract us. Things that are mundane and unhelpful, and they may not necessarily be evil or wicked, but they just keep us from the things that truly matter. What Paul’s saying is take opportunities that are before you.

Use those opportunities. Don’t walk past them, but look carefully how you walk. And when an opportunity is there or a door is open, walk through it. That’s the idea of making the best use of the time. And then be filled with the Spirit rather than controlled by the Spirit of the world. That’s the image that he’s using here, and it works very well. I mean, they understood just as well as we do that someone who gets drunk with wine is controlled by it.

Strangely enough, it was often used in their worship practices as well. In pagan worship, you kind of get into a drunken frenzy. They imagined that you were speaking in the language of the gods and that sort of thing. So it provides a nice contrast between what Paul wants God’s people to be doing. Not that. Let’s not lose control of ourselves. Let’s be filled with the things of God, the things of the Spirit. And rather than being filled with wine, which leads to debauchery, and you can even, I think, see the relationship between the singing and kind of that sort of mentality, what happens when you’ve lost control of yourself. Don’t be like that, but be filled with the things of God. And when you’re filled with the things of God, what’s coming out of you is psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, the good things, good things that teach other people.

You’re walking in love, and not only are you making melody to the Lord with your heart, but you’re also teaching and admonishing one another. All of these good things are happening, and beyond all of that, you’re also giving thanks. This is about reordering our life after the things of God and not the things of the world. Who am I following? That’s the ultimate question. If I’m willing to do the tough work of examining my walk, I have to look between that difference in Ephesians 2 and Ephesians 5. Am I still walking in death in trespasses and sins and following the Prince of the Power of the world? The spirit that works in the sons of disobedience? Or do my actions, do my walk testify to something else?

That I’m filled by God’s Spirit and producing the fruit of the Spirit. Things that are good and right and true. Am I working to reorder my life to shape it after the kingdom? The righteousness of God? Or is this just a part I play from time to time? And then go about seeking my own will. These are the two verses that I think are fundamental to everything that’s going on with what Paul’s doing here. And so I saved them for the end. When he’s talking about walking as children of light and walking in love, here’s the goal. Verse 10. Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Verse 17. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. In two lines, that’s what it means to walk in wisdom or to walk wisely.

Conclusion

Day after day, I’m thinking, what is pleasing to the Lord? Which decision? Right? We could go down. Sometimes we think of wisdom in this way. It’s, you know, not necessarily things that are clearly stated in Scripture, but we’re trying to make the best decisions. I’m fine with that. I think that’s accurate. What is the decision that’s going to please the Lord? What is the decision that’s going to align best with understanding not my will and what I want, but the Lord’s will and what he wants? And if I’m willing to do that, then I’m in the process of walking in a wise way. Maybe this morning you realize it’s time to follow the ways of the Lord. And in walking in wisdom, you know you need to give yourself to Jesus Christ.

If you’ve not been baptized into Christ, you’re not in Christ. You don’t have Christ’s blood for the forgiveness of your sins. He’s made this amazingly easy. The process is not hard. The powerful working of God happens in a very simple way when it comes to physical things. Coming up here and putting yourself in water, not complicated. But it’s the means by which God chooses to represent the dying of the old life and the resurrecting of the new. And when we do that, God is now working in our life to remove the sins and to bring us back into unity with Him again. And if you know you need that this morning, we’d be glad to help you. If you’ve been professing the life of Christ, if you’ve been saying you’re a holy one, you’re a saint.

But when you examine your life, you’re just realizing I don’t see that. I see a lot of living for myself rather than living for God. God is ready for give. He’s ready to take you back. You can make that known this morning as well. Can we help you? Why don’t you come now as we stand and we sing?